What this could mean in practice for businesses
Faster resolution when things go wrong
For many organisations, the pain isn’t only the unit rate, it’s the friction: slow query cycles, disputed reads, billing errors, unclear contract positions and lengthy supplier back-and-forth.
A regulator that is explicitly being geared for quicker intervention should, over time, place more pressure on market participants to improve how issues are handled and resolved.
In particular, Ofgem having the ability to order corrections, refunds and compensation means it has more practical tools to address supplier complaints, slow handling of queries and unfair treatment.
This is particularly important for multi-site portfolios, where small problems scale quickly and admin time becomes a real cost.
Higher expectations on sales conduct and transparency
One of the clearest signals for the non-domestic market sits in the government’s wider focus on third-party intermediaries (TPIs).
The Secretary of State letter on ‘supporting consumers’ reinforces themes that business buyers will recognise: clearer communication, better transparency on costs and a stronger standard of care, especially during volatile market conditions.
Even where formal regulatory protections differ between household and non-domestic segments, the direction is the same: less tolerance for ambiguity, more expectation of clarity.
Better governance becomes a commercial advantage
As scrutiny increases, the businesses that do best will be the ones with clean decision-making: documented assumptions, clear risk ownership and a procurement approach that can stand up to internal and external challenges.
This approach protects organisations when markets move, bills don’t reconcile or when contract terms become a point of dispute.
It also reduces exposure where issues such as billing errors, unfair charges or poor complaint handling would otherwise take longer to resolve.
