Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the cost implications for the public purse of not including an appeals process to an expert independent body on the level of a cap on energy prices in the draft Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill; and what the evidential basis is for not including such an independent appeals process.

The draft Bill would place a new duty on Ofgem to implement a cap on standard variable and default tariffs, and provides a bespoke power for Ofgem to implement the price cap through an amendment to the licence conditions. Energy companies would be able to appeal an Ofgem decision on whether to proceed with the licence modification by way of judicial review. A route of appeal by judicial review would be available to energy companies whether or not an additional route of appeal to the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) were included in the draft Bill. This means there is no additional public costs resulting from not including an appeal route to the CMA