Many of the technical and commercial rules and obligations that govern participation in Great Britain’s gas and electricity sector are set out in a series of multilateral codes.
Typically, network operators are obliged under their licences to put these codes in place. Each code is designed to be capable of modification with the network operators, the signatories to the code and, in some cases, Consumer Focus able to propose such modifications. The rules for how these proposals must be assessed vary from code to code, as does the extent to which changes are subject to self-determination by the industry, or must be referred to Ofgem for decision.
Both individually and collectively, the codes significantly impact on the shape and development of the gas and electricity sectors and, by extension on our ability to deliver competitive markets that best protect the consumer interest.
We issued an open letter on 28 November 2007 highlighting concerns that there may be weaknesses in the way the codes are governed and that this may be preventing both industry and consumers from getting full value from these arrangements. We suggested that these concerns merited a wider review of the governance regime and invited our stakeholders to provide their views on the scope of any such project. Our Final Proposals and consultation on the proposed licence drafting to implement the Final Proposals were published on 31 March 2010.
This page provides details of the code governance review project, with links to key documents. We hope that it provides you with all the information that you need to track its progress, but do contact us at industrycodes@ofgem.gov.uk if you have questions or feedback.