Both wholesale and retail markets for gas and electricity are now fully competitive. Competition has also been introduced within the gas and electricity connections markets. Effective competition helps keep the pressure on costs, to the benefit of customers. Competition also helps promote more diversity in gas and electricity supplies and a greater choice of tariffs and services for customers.
Our priority is to help markets operate transparently and effectively, remove barriers which may prevent this and, when necessary, use our powers to tackle anti-competitive behaviour or practices.
Ofgem's Authority has concurrent powers with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) under the Competition Act 1998 (CA98) to investigate and take enforcement action in relation to suspected infringements of UK and EC competition law. Guidance issued by the OFT on the CA98 can be obtained from the OFT’s website.
If a company or business entity is found to have infringed UK or EC competition law, Ofgem has a range of options available to it including:
- issuing an order to stop the behaviour, and
- imposing a financial penalty of up to 10 per cent of businesses' world-wide turnover.