FAQs

Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) is the government regulator for gas and electricity markets. This is a statutory body representing the interests of gas and electricity consumers in the UK.

The role of Ofgem is to ensure that the energy retail market protects and promotes the best interests of consumers. To achieve this, Ofgem closely monitors the gas and electricity market and enforces rules for suppliers. 

Ofgem doesn’t deal directly with consumer complaints, but they do provide guidance on who to speak to instead. Ofgem’s role is to keep the gas and electricity market under review and ensure that all licensees comply with the right legislation and energy supply licence obligations. In exceptional circumstances, Ofgem can get involved in solving disputes between consumers and network operators. If you’d like to complain about Ofgem, here’s how to do it.

Depending on your query, you can get in touch with them by choosing one of the options on their contact page. 

If you are dissatisfied with your current energy supplier or any other energy company, you should first complain directly to them. If they don’t provide a timely resolution to your query, you are allowed to escalate this to the Energy Ombudsman. 

Although Ofgem is the energy industry regulator, they do not deal directly with consumer complaints, but can get involved in solving disputes between consumers and network operators only in exceptional circumstances. 

Read Ofgem’s guidance on how to complain about an energy company. 

If you’d like to complain about Ofgem instead , here’s how to do it.

To start an energy supply company in the UK, you need to achieve the required industry qualifications and accreditations. These are typically issued by Ofgem, Elexon, MRASCo, SPAA and Xoserve, which are the main regulators of the energy sector.

The most important qualification is the Ofgem Energy Supply Licence for electricity or gas. Attaining this can often be an onerous process, which is why many aspiring market entrants opt for the services of professional energy market consultants to help them speed up the process.

An alternative solution to enter the UK energy market is to buy an energy supply business. These companies are pre-accredited, meaning they come with all the relevant licences and approvals required to start supplying lawfully. 

Yes. This has become a very popular method for aspiring suppliers to enter the UK energy market, particularly because it saves valuable time and effort. Off-the-shelf energy companies are ready for Controlled Market Entry (CME) as they have already acceded to all the necessary codes and regulations of ELEXON, MRASCo, SPAA and Xoserve.

You can purchase an energy company from Dyball Associates, which will also include a contract for the provision of energy industry software, managed services and data quality. 

With the purchase of an energy supply business from Dyball Associates, we offer a complimentary contract of additional extras. This will include bespoke energy industry software and dataflow systems for gas and/or electricity. We will also introduce you to our Managed Services team, who will ensure data is handled appropriately and prevent unforeseen incidents. 

The estimated time to market for creating an energy supply business is 4-6 months..

In order to enter the UK electricity market and operate lawfully, suppliers must gain the relevant industry qualifications. In particular, a new electricity supplier must achieve MRA Entry Process Board (MEPB) and ​Performance Assurance Board​ (PAB) approval.  

Yes. Energy industry software allows you to save valuable time and money, whilst ensuring the accuracy of data and billing processes. You can reduce your expenditures by enabling operational control of customer and customer-related activities and configure the system to match your desired processes. 

Moreover, gas and electricity billing software can greatly simplify and improve your billing process through a variety of features including bespoke bill designs using Ofgem compliant billing templates, payment management, direct debit integration and more. Find out more about the benefits of energy billing solutions. 

An energy supply licence defines how a gas or electricity supplier must interact with their consumers, market its products as well as other obligations they must comply with.

The electricity supply licence costs £450, while the price for a gas supply licence can range from £350 to £450. However, this cost doesn’t reflect the whole expenditure required to become a supplier and enter the UK energy market. 

Yes, in some cases it is possible to become exempt from holding an electricity or gas supply licence. This typically applies to individual cases or specific classes of activities and can be conditional or unconditional. Our energy market consultants and your own legal team can help you find out if you may be eligible for an exemption.

Yes. Ofgem expects all electricity and gas supply licence holders to self-report when things go wrong and act quickly to resolve outstanding issues. Energy suppliers must also notify Ofgem of any IT upgrades or other high risk activities that have caused issues in the past.

Energy billing systems allow you to track usage of the energy you sell to consumers (e.g. gas and electricity) and then manage the billing process based on the usage data acquired. They also simplify and improve all billing activities, by delivering a wide range of features which enable full customisation. Energy suppliers therefore benefit from a bespoke software, which is tailored to their individual requirements. 

An Energy Management System (EMS) is an automation tool which gathers field data and informs the users through bespoke monitoring features therefore delivering regulatory compliance to energy suppliers. The data can include details on energy usage, industry communications and incidents. This allows energy supply companies to effectively manage and monitor resources and workflow. 

As part of our energy managed services, Dyball Associates provide Gas and Electricity Dataflow Management Systems to energy suppliers in the UK through GASMAN and REGMAN. Both of these energy management systems are highly versatile, with REGMAN continuing to receive the lowest possible risk rating from ELEXON during electricity qualification processes. Our communication tools allow electricity and gas supply businesses to operate within both domestic and commercial energy markets using the same system. 

You will need a Gas & Electricity Billing software to help you manage payments and usage, as well as a CRM system to enable full customer management. To communicate with the gas or electricity supply industry, you’ll also need a dataflow management system. Dyball Associates provide dataflow communication tools for energy supply businesses through REGMAN and GASMAN. 

REGMAN is an electricity supply data communication tool which ensures data flow integrity is continuously monitored and maintained. REGMAN allows registration processes to be seamless and raises workflow events each time something unexpected occurs. This system receives the lowest possible risk rating from ​ELEXON during electricity qualification processes, and has been successfully used in achieving qualification of over 30 electricity supply licences.

GASMAN is a gas distribution software used as a data flow management and market messaging system for the gas supply market. Similarly to REGMAN, it will monitor and maintain all gas data flows to ensure industry compliance and facilitate communication. GASMAN enables gas supply businesses to spot issues before they occur with the help of our managed services team or your own operational staff.

Yes, both REGMAN and GASMAN allow for seamless integration with our energy supplier CRM and billing system, as well as your own CRM.

Regulations introduced by Ofgem in 2019 state that energy companies can only backdate energy bills for no longer than 12 months. 

Professional energy managed services from expert consultants can help you handle and monitor data flow and data quality to ensure you are ready for any unforeseen incident before they cause any issues. This enables you to maintain regulatory compliance as well as optimise your Settlement Final Performance in accordance with ELEXON standards. 

Our energy management services include a full team of experienced data analysts and a suite of tools, specifically designed to match the needs of your energy supply business. This means you are assigned with a dedicated point of contact, and work routines/ communications with the industry and consumers are handled periodically, as per your requirements. 

Whether you supply electricity, gas or both, you’ll also benefit from our energy dataflow systems, REGMAN and GASMAN. These are complimentary offers to all energy suppliers who solicit this service.