Ofgem plans to produce a consultation document in spring 2024 setting out proposed decisions for improving Consumer Consent processes in the energy sector, following its Call for Input on data sharing in a digital future, which closed to responses at 5pm on 26 January 20241.
The Call for Input set out three proposals for how consent to share consumer energy data might work: a single technical solution such as a consent dashboard; a set of principles outlining a consistent way for trusted market participants to obtain consent, such as Data Best Practice; and an industry-developed code of conduct, such as the Confidence Code1. Ofgem stated that there is no current single standardised process for obtaining consent to share consumer energy data1.
"We plan to produce a consultation document building on the findings of this Call for Input in the Spring of 2024, setting out our proposed decisions for improving Consumer Consent processes in the energy sector."
The document sets out a timeline: stakeholder responses published and analysed in winter 2023/2024; consumer engagement through the Behavioural Insights Team and a consultation on a specific option and governance model in spring 2024; and a consultation decision in late 2024, with Ofgem's approach to Consumer Consent implemented1. Ofgem said next steps would be a formal consultation before solution development1.
The Call for Input gives context on the scale of energy data in play. At the end of June 2023, over 33 million smart and advanced meters were in homes and small businesses across Great Britain, with 30.3 million operating in smart mode, and 58 per cent of all meters were smart or advanced1. Ofgem has modified SLC 47 of the electricity supply licence to introduce a new framework for sharing customers' consumption data under the Market-wide Half Hourly Settlement programme, which it said will be deployed in 20251. Separately, it noted that while asset installers are legally required to register certain assets with distribution network operators, only 40 per cent of these assets are currently being registered and therefore visible; a £2m innovation competition launched by the government in 2022 supports solutions to register such assets automatically1.
Ofgem's stated objectives in assessing how to empower consumers to share data are to improve consumer trust in data-sharing services, improve access to personal data across the sector, and develop a consent process or mechanism1. It cited Open Banking, which it said has over 7 million users, alongside the European Commission's Common Reference Model, Australia's Consumer Data Right and the USA's Green Button initiative as examples of consent solutions1. A joint response to the Energy Digitalisation Taskforce report in July 2022 committed to further examining Consumer Consent and considering appropriate next steps1.
Why it matters for households
Consent is the mechanism by which a household's energy data moves from the meter to a third party. Ofgem's own framing is that consumers produce and own their data, and that any benefit from it must accrue to them as well as to the wider energy system1. In practice, the shape of the consent process decides how easily a household can let a supplier, a flexibility service or another provider see its consumption data, and how easily it can withdraw that permission later. Ofgem notes that the legal right to decide how and with whom data is shared is enshrined in UK GDPR, but that this option lacks convenience and consistent application, which it says precludes many consumers1. A standardised route could therefore affect whether services that depend on consumption data, such as time-of-use tariffs or demand-side response, are open to a household at all, and how much effort participation takes. The Information Commissioner's Office, quoted in the document, recognises that consent uniquely offers individuals real choice and control over how industry uses their data1. The consultation itself has not yet been published, so the specific option Ofgem will propose has not been reported.
What happens next
Ofgem's stated timeline places consumer engagement through the Behavioural Insights Team and a consultation on a specific option and governance model in spring 2024, with a consultation decision in late 2024 and implementation of its approach to Consumer Consent thereafter1. The consultation document itself had not been published at the time of the Call for Input1.
Sources1 cited
- Data Sharing in a Digital Future: Consumer Consent, ofgem.gov.uk