Policy paper

Economic regulation policy

This policy paper sets out the government’s vision for modernising the economic regulation of the utilities sectors.

• From: Department for Business and Trade and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
• Published: 31 January 2022
• Last updated: 22 November 2023
  Show all updates

  1. 22 November 2023

     Updated with information on the economic regulation consultation launched on 22 November 2023.

  2. 1 June 2023

     A new update has been added to the call to action box in details stating: The Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy policy paper, published on 10 May 2023, set out the importance of economic growth. We will consider how Ofcom, Ofgem and Ofwat can promote economic growth when we publish a consultation paper on the review of economic regulation in the coming months.

  3. 17 January 2023

     The review of economic regulation announced in the January 2022 policy paper is now under way: see the Details section of the page for more information.

  4. 31 January 2022

     First published.

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Documents

Economic regulation policy paper (PDF)

PDF, 384 KB, 26 pages

Economic regulation policy paper (accessible webpage - HTML)

HTML

Details

Update: 22 November 2023

We have now launched our consultation – Smarter Regulation Strengthening the economic regulation of the energy, water and telecoms sectors as regulated by Ofgem, Ofwat and Ofcom.

The consultation will close on  17 January 2024.  We welcome responses from all individuals or organisations with an interest in economic regulation in the energy, water and/or telecoms sectors. You can respond to the consultation via: 

Online: Qualtrics

Email: economicregulation@businessandtrade.gov.uk 

Write to: Economic Regulation, Department for Business and Trade,  2nd Floor, Old Admiralty Building, London, SW1A 2AY

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