A decision has been made by the competition and markets authority to lengthen the amount of time that it will take before completing their inquiry into the energy markets.
The body, which acts a regulator for competition between energy suppliers in the UK, had initially set the deadline for 25 December but has now chosen to move that to 25 June 2016. However it has also said that it believes the finalised report will be completed before this date. It stated that it hopes to have compiled preliminary findings by January, when it would release a draft of potential proposals, and have the full report published by the end of April.
Back in July, the CMA stated that consumers in the UK were overcharged by a total of £1.2 billion in just one year. The energy companies responsible for this figure were the “Big Six”, the regulator stated. These companies, that include EDF and Npower, have all stated explicitly that they do not make profits that are either excessive or unfair. These companies have all expressed their opposition to the proposed idea of a temporary price cap.
The reason that the CMA has given for this extension is the fact that they need more time to process the amount of responses they have had customer groups, energy suppliers and other involved parties. The regulator then said that it would need more time to be able to compile evidence and draw out achievable policy ideas.
Roger Witcomb, chairman of the investigation, said: “As the most comprehensive investigation into the energy market since privatisation, this is a once in a generation opportunity to shape the future of this market for the better. It’s important that we get it right.
“This is a huge programme of work and we have concluded that we could not complete it by the original statutory deadline. We have therefore decided there are special reasons for extending the reference period which will allow us some extra time to finish the job.”
