Greg Hands – 2021 Statement on the Energy Default Tariff Cap

The statement made by Greg Hands, the Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the House of Commons on 29 October 2021.

The Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act 2018 enables the default tariff (price cap) on standard variable and default energy tariffs to be extended on an annual basis up to end of 2023 at the latest. These annual extensions are dependent on an assessment and statement that I make every year, by 31 October, on whether the conditions for effective competition are in place for domestic supply contracts.

I am confirming today that the price cap mechanism will remain in place for 2022 as the conditions for effective competition are not yet in place for domestic supply contracts.

As required by legislation, the independent energy regulator, Ofgem, has carried out an assessment into whether the conditions are in place for effective competition in domestic supply contracts this year. Ofgem has been transparent in how it made its assessment, and its report is clear and thorough. Ofgem assesses that these conditions have not been met and recommends that the price cap mechanism should be extended.

The level of the price cap is a separate matter for Ofgem to determine.