Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) published a policy briefing on 26 January 2022 setting out steps it says the UK Government and the energy regulator Ofgem can take now to respond to the energy crisis and support vulnerable energy customers this winter1.
The briefing states that it was developed by NEA and that it highlights positive steps that can be taken now by the UK Government and Ofgem1. NEA says it hopes the briefing will prompt policy interventions before Ofgem announces the next revision to the energy price cap in February1.
"This policy briefing highlights the positive steps that can be taken now by the UK Government and energy regulator Ofgem to respond to the current energy crisis and support vulnerable energy customers this winter."
The briefing is dated 26 January 2022 and is published on NEA's website, with a PDF version available to download1. The specific measures NEA recommends, and any figures attached to them, are not set out in the pages available here; the detail sits in the PDF, which has not been reported in the text reviewed1.
The timing places the briefing ahead of Ofgem's February announcement on the next revision to the energy price cap, which NEA identifies as the point it hopes to influence1. The briefing does not itself change the price cap, and no response from the UK Government or Ofgem to the briefing has been reported1.
Why it matters for households
The price cap sets the maximum a supplier can charge for a unit of gas or electricity on a default tariff, so its revision feeds directly into what a household pays. A briefing aimed at that decision is aimed at the bill itself. For homes already struggling, the practical question is whether support arrives before the cap changes rather than after.
The briefing is addressed to two bodies with different levers. The UK Government controls energy policy and the funding behind schemes such as the Warm Home Discount, while Ofgem sets and enforces the cap and the rules suppliers must follow. Energy is devolved in part, so some levers sit with the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government rather than Westminster, and the briefing as published does not set out how its asks would be divided between them1.
For a household, energy independence in the short term means the bill staying within what the home can pay, and knowing where to go when it cannot. Complaints, redress and the routes open to a customer in dispute are covered in the site's guide to energy complaints and redress. The wider framework the briefing is trying to move sits under regulation and policy.
What happens next
Ofgem is due to announce the next revision to the energy price cap in February 2022, the deadline NEA's briefing is timed against1. No date has been reported for a government or Ofgem response to the briefing itself1.