Testing domestic consumer take up of energy services: Trial suspension of 28 day rule
Consultation
- Upcoming
- Open
- Closed (awaiting decision)
- Closed (with decision)
Publication date
Many stakeholders argue that energy suppliers are ideally placed to drive domestic take-up of energy efficiency measures. Ofgem has been working with suppliers, government, energywatch and other interested parties to explore how suppliers could be encouraged to offer energy services packages in the domestic sector, and how consumers could finance them.
These offerings are packages that bundle energy efficiency advice and measures with energy supply. In these discussions suppliers have claimed that investment to develop energy services will not be viable without an assurance that the customers in question will not switch to another supplier.
To test this hypothesis, this document proposes a trial to explore whether suspending the 28 day rule (which requires all energy supply contracts to be terminable on 28 days notice) in limited circumstances will result in significantly increased up-take of energy services packages. It also consults on the parameters for this trial. The trial will also test whether consumer protection measures in the trial (which are in addition to existing statutory and licence protection) can be as effective as providing customers with a right to protect themselves by changing suppliers.
The trial parameters have been discussed in the forum of the Energy Services Working Group, whose creation was announced in the Governments Energy White Paper published in February 2003. The parameters discussed for consultation in this document include: size of trial definition of energy services contractual arrangements permitted in the trial, and consumer protection measures. Following consultation, the trial parameters will be incorporated into a derogation from the gas and electricity supply standard licences, in respect of customers purchasing an energy services package.
Ofgem will not begin the trial until the industry has devised working arrangements for managing transfer objections within the context of the trial. A licence modification will be required to permit Ofgem to grant this derogation, and this consultation document also includes a draft of that modification. This modification will go to statutory consultation in February 2004, and a draft derogation will be published at the same time as that consultation.
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