Regulating energy trading

We are the regulator for wholesale energy trading in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). Our aim is to keep wholesale energy prices fair, open and competitive for consumers and the industry.

To do this, we register companies that trade, monitor their trading and take enforcement action under the Regulation on wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT).

Anyone who buys or sells wholesale energy for use in Great Britain must register and comply with its rules. These includes rules on registering, publishing information and market abuse.

We strongly recommend that you consider legal advice on compliance and not only act on our information on your obligations.

Read how we take action against companies in Enforcement cases. For more information about the regulation, email us: REMIT@ofgem.gov.uk.

Register as a market participant to trade energy

You must register with us to trade wholesale energy that is for use in Great Britain, unless you are registered in Northern Ireland or the European Union with a national regulatory authority.

You also must inform us if your registration details need to change.

1. Find out how to register in our REMIT Registration User Guide.
2. Fill in the REMIT Registration Form.
3. Check our REMIT data privacy policy.
4. Upload your registration data safely. Follow the user guide advice, do not email your data.

To ask us about REMIT registration, email us REMIT.Registration@ofgem.gov.uk. We aim to provide support from 9:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday.

Check non-confidential data on registered companies on the REMIT national public register database.

Reporting transactions

Market participants trading wholesale energy products for delivery in Great Britain are not required to regularly report information about their trading transactions, following the UK’s departure from the European Union.

Ofgem will monitor trading in British wholesale energy markets using data collected from organised market places under regulation 9 of the Electricity and Gas (Market Integrity and Transparency) (Enforcement etc.) Regulations 2013.

Suspected market abuse or suspicious transactions

Firms arranging transactions for wholesale energy products deliverable in Great Britain must:

• report suspicious transactions to Ofgem without delay
• ensure staff responsible for managing market abuse risk have access to adequate training to identify potentially suspicious transactions
• ensure they have adequate arrangements and procedures in place to identify suspected inside trading and market manipulation

Read about reporting potential market abuse on Compliance and monitoring, reporting a rule breach.

Under Article 4 REMIT, it is the market participants’ (MPs) responsibility to ensure that inside information is published in a timely and effective manner.

Ofgem strongly encourages the use of appropriate Inside Information Platforms (IIPs) for the effective publication of inside information relating to the GB wholesale energy market. We currently consider the Elexon Insights Solution platform (formerly BMRS) for electricity and National Grid’s GB REMIT Central Collection and Publication Service for gas to meet this requirement.

MPs considering using other IIPs for the publication of inside information relating to the GB wholesale energy market should consider whether those platforms will ensure that the inside information is as widely received by other relevant MPs operating in the GB market as that provided by Elexon or the service operated by National Grid.

Within the REMIT regulations, certain exemptions apply to insider trading. There are also rules recognising delays to publishing certain inside information.

Exemption to insider trading

Under Article 3(4)(b) of REMIT, the prohibition on insider trading does not apply to:

“Transactions entered into by electricity and natural gas producers, operators of natural gas storage facilities or operators of LNG import facilities the sole purpose of which is to cover the immediate physical loss resulting from unplanned outages, where not to do so would result in the market participant not being able to meet existing contractual obligations or where such action is undertaken in agreement with the transmission system operator(s) concerned in order to ensure safe and secure operation of the system.”

If a market participant has used this exemption, they must report relevant information relating to the transactions to us without delay. This should be sent to market.conduct@ofgem.gov.uk.

Delay to disclosure of inside information

Under Article 4(2) of REMIT, a market participant:

“May under its own responsibility exceptionally delay the public disclosure of inside information so as not to prejudice its legitimate interests provided that such omission is not likely to mislead the public and provided that the market participant is able to ensure the confidentiality of that information and does not make decisions relating to trading in wholesale energy products based upon that information.”

In any situation where a market participant has delayed disclosure of inside information, they must notify us immediately. This should include a justification for the delay. This should be sent to market.conduct@ofgem.gov.uk.

We will determine whether the exemption has been used appropriately following assessment of the information provided, but does not provide ex-ante approval for the use of exemptions.