Ofgem accused of being ‘too slow to act’ as millions of Britons foot £2.7 billion bill

The watchdog also warned that this price is “very likely to increase”, blaming the extra charge on bills on “Ofgem’s failure to effectively regulate the energy supplier market”.

It is recognised that Russian Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine sparked supply chain issues which sent prices soaring, in addition to his various supply cuts which made matters worse. But the committee believes the industry regulator should have done more to make sure companies were strong enough to cope with rising costs, a move it should have made before the crisis even began, the report authors argue.

Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair of the committee, said: “It is true that global factors caused the unprecedented gas and electricity prices that have caused so many energy supplier failures over the last year, at such terrible cost to households. But the fact remains that we have regulators to set the framework to shore us up for the bad times.

“Problems in the energy supply market were apparent in 2018, years before the unprecedented spike in prices that sparked the current crisis, and Ofgem was too slow to act.

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Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1695869/energy-crisis-ofgem-suppliers-public-accounts-committee-report