Innovating our Policy Making
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Supply and Retail Market
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Ofgem is adapting the way that it works
In Ofgem’s Strategic Narrative 2019-23 we said we would develop a more flexible way of working. Amongst other things we want teams to have a clear vision from which they are able to “prioritise work decisively, and agree deliverable briefs with agile teams”. They will work in a more multidisciplinary way with greater autonomy, collaboration and shared decision making.
Over nine months, a policy team within Ofgem trialled some of these new ways of working.
We trialled new ways of working whilst working on a live policy project
In addition to the change within Ofgem, our Strategic Narrative reported that over the next decade, we expect to see the energy system undergo a “fundamental transformation as the processes of decarbonisation, digitalisation and decentralisation progressively manifest themselves across the system.” After submitting a call for evidence in 2017, Ofgem carried out a 'Future Energy Retail Market Review' in 2019 that explored the current energy retail market design and how it might need to change to be fit for the future and puts consumers first. This was in collaboration with the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
One of the key areas of focus within the Future Energy Market Review was to understand how Ofgem could protect the interests of consumers now and in the future. The team decided to find out if methods that are typically used in Agile software development and user-centred design projects could lead to a more robust and evidenced-based approach to addressing this regulatory challenge.
Ofgem were able to hire new Agile and service design expertise in order to trial new ways of working within the Future Retail Market Review thanks to funding from the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund, an initiative of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The Future Retail Market Review team has now published a consultation, and the grant-funded research work that fed into it has come to an end.
Our case study
Our case study, which you can find at the bottom of this page, describes what we did and what we learnt through this work, with some tips and resources for anyone wanting to embark on a similar journey. You can also find our event slides at the bottom of this page.