Impact of COVID-19 on retail energy supply companies – an enabling framework for regulatory flexibility
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This open letter sets out how Ofgem plans to facilitate and help provide clarity to suppliers to prioritise work sensibly and respond to the impacts of COVID-19 on their customers, staff and supply chains.
Our overarching objectives in working with suppliers during this period of extra-ordinary measures to combat Covid-19 are: to ensure that customer needs are met, particularly the most vulnerable, maintain secure, reliable and safe supplies of energy to consumers in the short to medium term (ie through to the end of next winter); and to ensure the safety and protection of consumers and the workforce.
Our focus in compliance will be to ensure that companies protect consumers from immediate harm, particularly vulnerable customers or where customers are at risk of going off supply, including self-disconnection.
This enabling framework deals with our pragmatic view of compliance related to core, ongoing customer-facing aspects of network activity. Assuming there is no material change of circumstances, this framework of regulatory flexibility will remain in place until 30 June 2020. As we approach that time, we will review the case for extending and/or amending it, based on circumstances at the time.