Delivering an energy system that works for consumers

15 Oct 2026 12:20 PM

Keynote speech given yesterday (14 October 2026) by Ofgem Chief Executive Tim Jarvis delivered at the Energy UK Annual Conference.

I’m delighted to be here.

It’s a real privilege to be here today as Chief Executive of Ofgem. I am grateful to all who have been in touch since my appointment, and I very much look forward to working with you in the coming years.

I am very conscious that I have taken on this role at a time when we have got some big challenges ahead as well as some opportunities.

But I have to start with where we are heading this winter. As we saw a few weeks ago, the energy price cap increased by 4% and we can all see what is happening to the wholesale prices as a result of what is going on in the Middle East.

We have seen the predictions for January. It is going to be a difficult winter.

Decisions on how to help those most likely to struggle quite rightly lie with government and like many of you I will be waiting to see what is announced in the budget.

I don’t think it’s for me to make government’s already difficult job even more difficult by making unreasonable demands, but I share the concerns of many of you that people are going to struggle this winter without some help.

The earlier we can get decisions and we can work with the sector to help implement them the better.

So whilst much of today’s discussion will rightly focus on investment, infrastructure and the future of the energy system. But I want to start with consumers.

Most consumers are not spending their time thinking about market design, regulation or network investment. And they do not care which institution is responsible for which part of the energy system.

They are asking more basic questions: 

What will this mean for my bills? Can I trust the system? And is somebody looking out for me? These questions are the ones I want Ofgem to help answer under my leadership.

Where decisions are ours, we will own them, where government needs to act, we will say so clearly, and where industry needs to do better, we will hold it to account.

If we want public confidence in the transition, people need to see that the system is working for them today, not just hear about what tomorrow will deliver. 

So I want to set out three commitments today.

First, I want to set out how Ofgem will support households and businesses through the energy transition.

Secondly, I want to address the role we can play in supporting economic growth – which the government has indicated is going to be one of our three statutory duties following the Ofgem Review and how we can enable investment and support electrification.

And then I want to talk about how, in a changing system, we need to change as well at Ofgem and ensure we are a regulator that gives consumers confidence and gives investors the clarity they need to make long-term decisions.

Firmly on the side of consumers

So starting with consumers.

The transition has got to deliver for consumers: we need to focus on the customer now and in the future both in terms of the service they receive and the prices they pay.

On service, we’ve made significant progress since the energy crisis. We have published statistics this week that  show that customer satisfaction with energy suppliers is now sustained at a record high of 82%, trust in suppliers has also reached its highest level since tracking began, and suppliers are more financially resilient.

I am not complacent about all of that, but we should recognise that that is a big step forward.

It reflects difficult reforms and a great deal of work by many of you here, and that progress is important.

But we now need to build on these foundations. We need a market that helps homes and businesses to electrify, take advantage of low carbon technology, to have more control over their bills by flexing when they use energy to take advantage of lower prices, and to make sure all see the benefits not just those who own their homes and can afford an electric vehicle.

This means shifting to a system that is centred on the consumer experience, not the individual rules, and which encourages innovation and attracts investment.

That is a process that I started in my previous role at Ofgem and I want us to build on.

Our work on consumer outcomes represents a fundamental shift I think in the way that we  support the sector and support consumers, accelerating innovation while keeping the customer experience at its heart.

But let’s face it, for most consumers, it is all about the bill. Now Ofgem doesn’t control every element of the bill, but where we do we should be relentless in driving down costs. And we need to drive down particularly the cost of electricity, the unit rate of electricity, to facilitate electrification, and the cost of that relative to gas.

As others have pointed out – and there has been some really good work recently I think by the Boston Consulting Group and the Institute for Fiscal Studies on this, if we don’t get the unit rate of electricity down we are going to suppress the very demand that we need to spread the fixed costs of the system, which is ultimately what will bring bills down.

That means difficult decisions. It means that we are not going to take easy options. For example, if we look at the whole debate around the electricity standing charge, simply moving those costs on to the unit rate, I think is the wrong thing to do.

Because as well as immediately putting up the bills of some of the most vulnerable households, it will make electrification more expensive. It is going to reduce demand, and ultimately put up bills for everyone. That is not to say that the current system of the flat standing charge for every household is right either.

We have looked at this issue carefully, drawing on extensive consumer research over the last year that involved more than 50,000 consumers, consultations, focus groups, live trials and analysis, including work with Citizens Advice to understand how different approaches would affect different households, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances.

Now, I am not going to apologise for the amount of time this has taken – this is complex and this is a big shift.

The right answer is complex. We are increasing tariff choice where we can, but ultimately we need a fairer and more sustainable way of allocating those fixed costs between different profiles of energy use. We have been doing a lot of work with you on this and we will come out with some proposals in the next few weeks.

Enabling the investment Britain needs

The second commitment is on enabling the investment that we need, while bearing down hard on cost and delivery. The biggest contribution we can make to economic growth is facilitating investment and creating a system that enables the electrification of the economy.

It is a change we are seeing all economies, largely across the world, starting to do. And we need to play our part in facilitating that.

We are embarking on a once-in-a-generation renewal of our national energy infrastructure. As we know, that does come at a cost, but so does a delay in investment.

Too often the debate is presented as a choice between investment and affordability. I just do not think that is the choice that faces us.

Not investing has a bill attached to it. The National Audit Office set out clearly in their recent report on transmission investment that investing in timely transmission upgrades could save £30-60 a year for consumers compared to a counterfactual of not investing. 

We need to invest in a grid that can accommodate new sources of generation and a likely doubling of demand as the economy electrifies.

Our job is to facilitate that and ensure that it’s no more expensive than it needs to be. Most importantly, consumers must feel the benefits.

We will make timely decisions on investment and then hold the network companies to account for delivery to time and budget.

We also need to provide greater transparency about what the system is costing, particularly when it comes to network investment.

The National Audit Office is right to call for greater transparency over a £70 billion grid upgrade programme.

If consumers are being asked to fund one of the largest infrastructure programmes in modern Britain, they deserve to know where their money is going and what progress is being made.

So we intend to set out a transparent assessment of the schedule and cost status of all the projects in the clean power portfolio, based on the latest information available to us.

And we will publish this report early in the new year.

This will also begin to show more clearly what major investments and regulatory decisions are expected to mean for the wider costs of the system and ultimately for future bills.

On growth: It is not enough for us to build the grid more efficiently. We also need to make it easier to access. This has obviously been subject to a lot of interest quite rightly.

If a business has the finance, the plans and the ambition to grow, it should not be held back unnecessarily by delays to a grid connection.

If communities need new homes, or investors are ready to build new infrastructure, the energy system should help unlock that growth, not hold it back.

That is why we are working with the energy systems operator to reform the connections queue.

We are helping to ensure renewable generation, energy storage and demand can connect faster, supporting economic growth and the transition to a cleaner energy system based on electricity.

Ultimately, the measure of success is simple: faster connections, greater investment and more growth.

However, it is also important to make sure that as large loads like data centres connect to the grid, other consumers should feel the benefits of this.

Done right, and with these new loads paying their way, adding demand to the grid should lead to a reduction in prices for other consumers.  But the converse is true as well: if it is not done correctly, it can easily go the other way.

We are seeing clear signs of a public backlash in the US and other places about data centres because of the impact that that is having on local power prices.

For this reason, I think we are very supportive of the concept of a “ratepayers protection pledge” that ensures that while new large loads can connect quickly, they should also pay for the additional costs they impose on the grid.

I’ve talked a lot about electricity. But we should talk about gas, and when I go back to where I started, as we go into this winter, most of the households are still going to be heating their homes with gas.

And we know that gas is still going to be part of our system for decades to come and will remain vital to energy security.  

And we have new challenges here. As consumers take up electric technologies such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, they will contribute less towards the fixed costs of the gas network.

And those who are unable to electrify quickly – many of whom may be less affluent or vulnerable - should not be left carrying an unfair and increasing share of those fixed costs.

Secondly, our domestic production of gas is declining, making us more dependent on imported gas over time.

The current Middle East conflict clearly shows the need to take stock of our national resilience to gas supply shocks.

So we need a shared understanding of how gas will support security during the transition, how its costs will be recovered as demand changes, and how we avoid leaving a shrinking group of consumers paying an increasing share of those costs. These are difficult decisions and some sit with government.

But we should not wait until the consequences are already visible in people’s bills before confronting the issue. 

I know the Government is giving serious thought to these questions and we are working very closely with them. We are ready to provide the evidence, advice and regulatory expertise needed to address them, but we do need to address them.

Becoming a different regulator

My third commitment is about Ofgem itself. I have heard the feedback. We have had the Review, and I have heard what many of the people in this room and others have said.

I want Ofgem to be more agile, more transparent, more accountable and harder-edged on delivery. For the people in this room, that should mean earlier engagement, quicker decisions, fewer consultations where there is a better way to gather evidence, an agreed set of outcomes we will monitor, and a more efficient way of collecting data and reporting against those outcomes.

I want to be more robust and demonstrate a more dynamic model of regulation based on data and technology. One that is focused on outcomes, not simply the regulations that firms follow.

Better flows of data can help us identify emerging risks sooner, understand market developments more quickly, and intervene earlier where consumers are at risk. It can also help us reduce the burden on those we regulate.

Finally, I want to recognise the contribution of all those who work at Ofgem and my confidence in them to meet the challenges ahead that I have laid out. They have carried the organisation through an extraordinary period, and I am grateful for their expertise and commitment.

Talking to them, they are equally eager for this change.

I will listen to their experience, invest in their skills and make sure we have the technical, commercial and sector expertise required to regulate a rapidly changing energy system.

Conclusion

So those are the three commitments I am making today.

First, I want Ofgem to be firmly on the side of consumers. That means supporting innovation and investment for the benefit of consumers and working with government to ensure that all see the benefits of electrification and the energy transition.

And in doing so, doing all we can at Ofgem to drive down bills.

And secondly, we will support growth and enable the investment Britain needs, while challenging hard on cost and delivery. That means greater transparency and an honest approach to the future of both the electricity and gas systems.

And thirdly, Ofgem will become a different regulator: more agile in the way we make decisions and implement them.

We will make better use of data and technology and be more accountable with clear targets against which we will be judged.

The opportunity in front of us is substantial: a more secure and clean system, stable bills, new investment and growth, and better outcomes for consumers. 

I am really looking forward to working with all of you to deliver that and playing our part in it.

I want us to be open and transparent about what we are doing, and how we should be held to account.

I expect you to hold me to account. And I am sure you will! Thanks very much.