Whistleblowing guidance

Ofgem welcomes whistleblowing and encourages individuals to speak up if they have concerns about wrongdoing in the energy sector. We want people to feel confident that their concerns will be taken seriously and they can raise them without fear of retaliation. Whistleblowing helps to protect consumers and strengthen trust in the energy sector.

Ofgem regularly reviews and improves this guidance in response to feedback or legal changes.

1. What does this guidance do?

This guidance explains what whistleblowing is and how you can blow the whistle on companies we regulate (energy companies, providers of metering services or participants in government environmental schemes, for instance). We also explain the difference between whistleblowing, complaints, and which department within Ofgem you should contact about these issues. We give you information on how we protect you from retaliation and sources of legal advice.

2. What is whistleblowing?

You blow the whistle when you raise a concern about a wrongdoing, risk or malpractice that effects someone other than yourself. This can be raised within your workplace as well as externally, such as to a regulator.

Some examples of whistleblowing include (but are not limited to):

• licence breaches, such as disconnecting vulnerable consumers in winter, or mis-selling energy contracts
• abuse of government schemes such as  ECO or renewable heat
• anti-competitive behaviour in the energy sector
• concerns about the cyber resilience of companies providing essential energy services

Sometimes it’s only through whistleblowing that this information comes to light and can be investigated. You can find out more information on whistleblowing on the government website.

3. Who can whistleblow?

Any employee who witnesses or experiences wrongdoing in the workplace can whistleblow. This includes former employees or an individual who is aware of wrongdoing due to a close personal relationship.

4. What is the difference between making a complaint, raising a grievance and blowing the whistle?

When you blow the whistle you are raising a concern about suspected wrongdoing that you believe affects others, usually customers, members of the public, or your employer. If you raise a whistleblowing concern, we can investigate whether any wrongdoing is occurring and in some cases inform you of actions we have taken to prevent it recurring. Whistleblowing cannot repair or remedy a situation personal to you.

When you complain, normally you are saying that you have personally been poorly treated or otherwise suffered harm as a consequence of another person’s alleged wrongdoing. In the energy business this might include incorrect billing, poor service, or incorrect installation of solar panels etc. Further information about making a consumer complaint is in section 5.

A grievance is when you, as an employee, have a dispute about your own employment position. If you are an employee we recommend that you refer to your internal workplace policies or alternatively seek independent employment advice. If you are unsure whether your concerns would best be addressed through whistleblowing or otherwise, please contact our team for advice.

5. Consumer complaints

If you have an individual consumer complaint, you should raise this with the relevant energy service provider initially. There are more details on who can help on Complain about your energy supplier. This explains how to contact Citizens Advice, and the Energy Ombudsman service.

If you’ve got a complaint about Ofgem itself, you should write to:

Ofgem Complaints
Commonwealth House
32 Albion Street
Glasgow
G1 1LH

Or email: feedback@ofgem.gov.uk.

We’ll acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days and will write to you within 20 working days to let you know the outcome. There’s more information on our complaints procedure page.

6. When should I refer a whistleblowing concern to Ofgem?

Energy companies are expected to have procedures to let you, as a worker with a concern, blow the whistle within your own company. Although we hope that procedures within your workplace would allow you to raise a concern internally, you can choose to raise a concern with Ofgem. This might be because:

• there aren’t any procedures in your own workplace;
• you’re uncomfortable or not confident about using the procedures; or
• the procedures have been followed but you’re concerned by the nature of the response, or lack of response, by your firm.

In any event, you can contact Ofgem, and we would encourage you to do so as soon as you become aware of a concern related to a wrongdoing, risk or malpractice which falls within our areas of responsibility. There is no requirement to raise concerns to your employer first, but often they are best placed to fix the wrongdoing.

7. How do I contact the Ofgem whistleblowing desk?

You can contact our whistleblowing desk by:

Telephone: 0207 901 7121

E-mail: whistle@ofgem.gov.uk

Post:
Whistleblowing Desk
Ofgem
10 South Colonnade
Canary Wharf
London
E14 4PU

We would invite whistleblowers to consider using a non-work related email account or phone number to contact us. It is a less intrusive method of contact should we need to follow up on any matters raised.

Please note, telephone calls may be recorded. Telephone recordings will be shared only with authorised individuals where there is a lawful basis and a demonstrable need to know.

8. How can I get legal advice?

Ofgem can’t give legal advice to you as a potential whistleblower and you should seek legal advice before raising concerns to check if whistleblowing protections may apply to your situation. However, even if you are not covered by the law, Ofgem will take all measures it can to protect you from potential retaliation. There’s more information on this in section 8, but you may want to seek independent legal advice or contact Protect, an independent charity which specialises in providing confidential and free advice about whistleblowing. Calls are confidential. 

Protect’s contact details are:

Website: https://protect-advice.org.uk/ 

Telephone: 020 3117 2520

9. How does the law protect me if I blow the whistle to Ofgem?

You’ll only be protected if your disclosure meets the conditions set out in the Act. The first test to be satisfied is that the disclosure is a “qualifying disclosure”. A qualifying disclosure is a disclosure of information which you, as a worker, reasonably believe you are making in the public interest and tends to show one or more of certain categories of wrongdoing. These categories include:

• criminal offences
• a breach of any legal obligation
• a miscarriage of justice
• danger to the health and safety of an individual
• risk or actual damage to the environment
• an attempt to conceal any of the above

You get protection most easily by disclosing such information to your employer. You may also make a disclosure to Ofgem (which is designated by the Act to receive disclosures in connection with the gas and electricity industry). You do not need to make a disclosure to your employer before raising a concern to Ofgem in order to be protected under the Act.  However, a further test must be satisfied.

This second test is that you must reasonably believe the wrongdoing falls within Ofgem’s area of responsibility (further details below) and that the information disclosed, and any allegation in it, is substantially true. Ofgem’s areas of responsibility are:

• the generation, transmission, distribution and supply of electricity, participation in the operation of an electricity interconnector or providing a smart meter communication service and related activities
• the transportation, shipping and supply of gas through pipes, participation in the operation of a gas interconnector or providing a smart meter communication service and related activities
• the renewable generation of heat
• any other activities in relation to Ofgem’s functions

Examples of Ofgem’s functions within these areas of responsibility include setting regulatory policy and licence obligations and administering government consumer and environmental schemes. Further information on Ofgem’s range of functions is available in our annual whistleblowing reports and in government list of prescribed people and bodies.

All workers, including temporary agency staff may benefit from the protections under the Act where certain conditions are met. In the Act the definition of ‘worker’ is wider than ‘employee’ however there are certain exclusions. Whistleblowing protections under the Act are also a ‘day one’ right, meaning that you are covered by the Act from the day you start to work for your employer (i.e you do not need a qualifying period of employment).

If you’re worried about your legal position, or you want more information, visit the Protect website or speak to Protect's advice line team on the telephone number in section 7.

10. How do I provide information to Ofgem?

We encourage you to give us information in writing, even if initial contact is made with the Whistleblowing Desk by phone.

We encourage you to raise an issue with us either openly or confidentially. However, if you are worried about doing this, we would prefer you to provide an anonymous disclosure to us, rather than not raising concerns about a serious wrongdoing at all.

Raising a concern openly means giving your name without a request for it to be kept private or requiring your consent to disclose. Openness makes it easier to assess the issue, work out how to investigate the matter, understand the issues and get more information. However, it is also possible for you to raise a concern confidentially. This is where you give your name on the condition that it is not revealed without your consent. (Please note there are some circumstances where we may be required to disclose information that would enable a whistleblower to be identified. This is discussed further in section 10). You can also raise a concern anonymously. This is where you do not give your name at all.

If you raise a concern anonymously we will treat the information just as seriously. We recognise that many people are very worried about being identified when they report concerns about their employers. However if you do not tell us who you are it will be harder for us to take action to protect you. Individuals should also be aware that through the information they provide, they may inadvertently identify themselves. In most cases, Ofgem will likely need to follow up with additionally questions, in order for us to be able to proceed with an investigation. Therefore, anonymous reporting can make investigations more challenging, but we will always investigate as fully as we can.

11. Confidentiality

We take the issue of maintaining the confidentiality of any disclosures seriously and we’ll protect your identity as far as possible. However, we can’t guarantee confidentiality in all cases, for example where:

• you have already raised the same concerns internally, causing your employer to guess the source of concerns; or a limited number of people would be aware of the information, allowing your employer to narrow potential sources down
• we’re required by law to disclose information which would enable the whistleblower to be identified, (for example if a relevant court order to do so is made)

Within Ofgem, your identity will normally only be disclosed to a limited group of people (as appropriate given the nature of your disclosure). In line with the above, we’ll restrict access to any documents provided by, or relating to you.

If we reach a point where you risk being identified we will wherever possible discuss the risks and potential next steps with you. Our investigators are trained to sensitively protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers, and wherever possible parallel source the same information about wrongdoing or risk. If you have any specific fears about identification or retaliation we encourage you to raise them with us as soon as possible so we can take preventative measures.

12. What we’ll ask of you

We don’t encourage whistleblowers to proactively obtain any further information from any source, whatever the circumstances, as this might infringe privacy rights or other legal requirements. However, whistleblowers may be asked to clarify the information they provide to us.

Often whistleblowers are a witness to the wrongdoing, or have suspicions as to what may be occurring. You do not have to be right about your concerns, or supply evidence to us. It is our role as the regulator to investigate and assure ourselves that there is no wrongdoing occurring. Your report is a gift that can help target our regulatory powers.

13. What we do with the information

We’ll acknowledge the contact we receive from you. If it’s by email, an auto-acknowledgement will be sent. If you do not receive the auto-acknowledgement your email has not been successfully delivered to the Whistleblowing Desk. Should this happen we would advise following up via alternate means.

Once the Whistleblowing Desk has evaluated the information, it will refer it to the relevant area(s) in Ofgem to consider further. A whistleblowing handler will be assigned to take your concern forward. We aim to assign a handler within five working days of receipt, and will allocate a member of Ofgem staff who knows about the issue you are disclosing, and who can investigate the issue further. In some instances, there may be both a handler and a subject matter expert assigned if the disclosure requires particular knowledge to progress.

If necessary, the whistleblowing handler will make contact with you (usually by email) to arrange a suitable time to speak with you to get further details of the concern. We usually conduct interviews over the phone if they’re needed or can follow up by email. Please note Ofgem is unable to text whistleblowers in advance of a follow up call. We would suggest whistleblowers provide a telephone number that they would be comfortable receiving a ‘cold call’ on and/or provide periods of availability.

Face to face interviews are rare and would usually be attended by at least two Ofgem staff. We don’t visit whistleblowers at home. If you would like to request a face to face meeting please inform us as early as possible with your reasoning as to why.

We will assess the information provided to decide whether further investigation is warranted at this stage.

We will also consider if there are other agencies or bodies which may have a legitimate interest in the information. If other agencies or bodies appear to us to be more appropriate we will either:

• encourage you to contact the agency/agencies themselves directly; or
• we will ask for your consent to pass this information onwards, however depending on the severity of the concern we may be obligated to do so in any case, and a whistleblower should consider this possibility before making a disclosure to us. If there is a reason you would not like this information shared with a specific body please inform us as soon as possible.

Because potential whistleblowing concerns are varied in nature, it is not possible to give precise timescales for investigating your concerns. But the whistleblowing handler will ensure that your concern is progressed as quickly as possible and check-ins will be arranged at regular intervals agreed by you and your handler.

14. Continuing contact with you

Generally, we cannot update you on the progress or outcome of the issue that you have raised. Often it’s our governing legislation (for example the Utilities Act 2000) that prevents us from giving detailed information back to you. New investigations are normally published on the website when they are opened. This information is available on our Compliance and enforcement page.

Additionally Ofgem is required to publish an annual report into the number of disclosures it received and how they were progressed. The report does not disclose information on the identity of the source, business or nature of disclosures received nor can these be deduced from the content.