The National Energy Action (NEA) published its response to two Ofwat consultations on charging rules and tariff innovation on 3 November 2022. The charity said it welcomed the opportunity to respond to both consultations and set out 14 recommendations across the two submissions1.
The recommendations cover five areas. NEA called for additional guidance from Ofwat to implement the principles proposed in its charging rules, and for safeguards for customers, including a guarantee that low-income and vulnerable customers are never worse off through taking part in a trial. It also asked that tariff innovation be aligned with the customer licence condition then under development, that the principles of co-design be applied when developing tariff trials, and that learning be shared1.
"NEA welcomes the opportunity to respond to these two consultations on Ofwat's charging rules and tariff innovation."
The response was published as two documents, one on charging innovation and one on scheme rules, both dated November 20221. Ofwat is the economic regulator for the water sector in England and Wales. The consultations concerned its charging rules and tariff innovation. The published response does not set out the individual recommendations in full, and the specific wording of each of the 14 has not been reported1.
Why it matters for households
Ofwat's remit is water, not electricity or gas, so the direct effect on a household's energy bills is limited. The relevance lies in the approach. Tariff trials test whether customers can be moved onto charges that vary by time or by how much they use, and the safeguards NEA asks for are the same kind of protections that come up when energy suppliers and networks trial new tariffs. A guarantee that low-income and vulnerable customers are not made worse off by taking part is the central question in any such trial, because a tariff that rewards shifting usage can penalise households that cannot shift it.
For a household's energy independence, the practical point is that the rules governing trials are being written before the trials run. How consultations like this one are framed, and whether customer safeguards and co-design are built in at the start or added later, shapes what households are offered when new tariffs reach the energy market. The energy consultations guide sets out how proposals of this kind move from consultation to decision.
What happens next
The response was published on 3 November 2022. No outcome, timetable or Ofwat decision following the consultations has been reported1.