the balance between the fixed (`standing') charge per consumer and the price per unit of gas used (
Ofgas, 1994a).
Former chairman Euan Robson, now Lib Dem MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, blamed
Ofgas for not tackling the problem.
A good neutral starting point is to contact the relevant regulators, OFFER for electricity, and
OFGAS for gas.
In a MORI survey for the NAO and
Ofgas, 95 per cent of customers said they were aware that competition had been introduced and 58 per cent considered themselves well informed about it.
"We are very conscious that we must demonstrate to shippers,
Ofgas (the Regulator) and consumers that they are getting value for money," Ingham said.
Either strong competition must be introduced at the time (which may be difficult to achieve), or a regulatory body such as OFFER, OFTEL,
OFGAS or OFWAT must be created in order to exercise surrogate ownership controls.
The 'official' classification also excludes bodies such as the utility regulators (
OFGAS, OFFER, etc), agricultural marketing boards and Port and Harbour Authorities.
This may still leave volume risk, if the formula sets the price per unit sold, in which case the utility also enhances profits by sales maximization, However, because environmental concerns indicate that the public interest may not be well served by increasing electricity and gas sales, there has been a gradual shift towards the revenue cap approach for the energy utilities, providing a fixed amount of income, independent of sales (OFFER, 1994;
OFGAS, 1994).
Ofgem (The office of gas and electricity markets) was formed in July 1999 when gas regulator
Ofgas joined with electricity regulator Offer
Watchdogs OFFER on 0800 451451 and
OFGAS on 0800 887777 have fact sheets.
Our investigation into marketing firm Utilities Ltd led to an inquiry by
Ofgas and the firm subsequently lost its job selling on behalf of Northern Electric.
"There's no reason for not changing supplier," said Mark Wiltshire, of the gas regulatory body
Ofgas. "The gas you're getting can cost up to 20 per cent less and you will get the same service.