In December last year Ofgem issued a consultation proposing changes to two documents that describes how it monitors, investigates and enforces the requirements of the EU Regulation on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (REMIT). The two documents were the REMIT Procedural Guidelines (which explain how Ofgem takes action under its REMIT powers) and the REMIT Penalties Statement (which explains when and how Ofgem would impose a penalty if a company or individual breached REMIT).
The consultation closed in February 2015 and Ofgem has now published final versions of the documents. Ofgem notes that respondents to the consultation broadly agreed with the proposed changes and that it has not made any significant revisions to the core proposals. The key changes are in summary:
- in both the REMIT Procedural Guidelines and the REMIT Penalties Statement it has introduced a vision and strategic objectives for REMIT casework;
- in the REMIT Procedural Guidelines Ofgem has changed the processes for conducting settlement discussions, the decision-makers (following the introduction of the Enforcement Decision Panel) and how oral representations are made; and
- in the REMIT Penalties Statement the changes cover when restitution orders may be appropriate, the steps that will follow to decide the amount of a penalty, for companies and for individuals (including how Ofgem will take account of factors such as the potential to cause serious financial hardship) and the discounts to a penalty that are available for agreeing settlement and how these decrease over time.
View Ofgem REMIT procedural guidelines and penalties statement, 23 June 2015
