Decision to grant Npower Group PLC a temporary and limited derogation from standard licence condition (SLC) 22C.4 of its electricity and gas supply licences
Decision
Publication date
Industry sector
Supply and Retail Market
This letter sets out the Authority’s decision to grant the following companies under Npower Group PLC: Npower Limited, Npower Northern Limited, Npower Northern Supply Limited, Npower Yorkshire Limited, Npower Yorkshire Supply Limited, and Npower Gas Limited, a temporary and limited derogation from standard licence condition (SLC) 22C.4 of its electricity and gas supply licences.
This derogation will enable these companies to conduct a time-limited trial of providing the Statement of Renewal Terms to their domestic gas and electricity customers within 35 and 21 days prior to the end of the fixed term tariff contract, which is later than the 42 to 49 day window in SLC 22C.4. The objective is to test for consumer behavioural changes when the Statement of Renewal Terms is sent closer to the end date of the fixed term tariff and over a longer period of time, compared to the current one week window.
As indicated in our 7 March 2016 open letter on improving consumer communications and the value of trials, we are committed to ensuring that consumers have the information they need to fully engage with the market to make well-informed decisions about their energy supply. We are open to considering derogations to facilitate trials on the format, placement, and wording on bills and other consumer communication tools. We consider that the results of the trials could assist our policy development as we are looking into making changes in this area as part of our implementation of the CMA remedies and our policy to rely more on principles in the way we regulate the retail market.