Supplier of Last Resort: Revised guidance
Reports, plans and updates
- Publication date
There have been a number of developments since then that have enabled Ofgem and industry parties to refine the arrangements for dealing with supplier failures. Although Ofgem would always prefer a trade sale as a way of ensuring continuity of supply for a failed suppliers customers, a robust and transparent process for deciding whether, and how, to appoint a Supplier of Last Resort provides more certainty for all parties involved. This document therefore updates the arrangements based on the current licence conditions and provides enhanced guidance on Ofgems policies and procedures. In particular, this document provides detailed information about the process Ofgem will follow and the criteria it will use to select and appoint a SoLR. It also provides details about the information that industry parties will be required to give Ofgem as part of that selection process. This will enable them to prepare as much as possible in advance to respond to a supplier failure. This guidance is issued to help industry parties, their advisors and insolvency practitioners understand Ofgems current powers, policies and procedures to deal with supplier failure, in particular the circumstances in which it would appoint a Supplier of Last Resort. The guidance cannot take account of unforeseen circumstances that might arise during a particular failure. Such circumstances may necessitate changes (which may be substantial and at short notice) to the policies and procedures in this document.