My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for providing the opportunity for us to consider these matters further. My understanding is that Amendment 41A is intended to require the Government to publish a report on the case for introducing new regulatory arrangements for the wider energy sector as well as for gas and electricity within a year of the Bill coming into force.
It is true that matters such as the supply of heating oil or liquid petroleum gas do not fall within the energy regulator’s remit, but there are good reasons for this. A chief component of Ofgem’s remit is to regulate the monopoly companies that run the electricity and gas networks. No equivalent natural or structural monopolies for distribution or supply exist in other energy sectors, so the Government do not consider that there is currently a case for them to be regulated by Ofgem or a new energy regulator. We need to bear in mind that increased regulation would be likely to increase the costs for businesses operating in these sectors, which would probably be passed on to their customers. This of course would be a concern to domestic and non-domestic customers. I entirely agree with the noble Baroness; we must think of non-domestic customers and small and medium-sized businesses, which are so much part of the economic recovery.
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Current consumer and competition laws apply in these sectors, and both the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission have powers that can be used to protect consumers. The OFT undertook
a study of the off-grid energy market in 2011 that found that there were few competition concerns in this sector. However, I reassure the noble Baroness that the Government are not complacent on these matters; we have established a working group of MPs, consumer groups and industry and local government representatives to look at a number of issues, including the development of a draft code of practice for petroleum suppliers and ways to help consumers deal with their heating costs.
The amendment would probably require the Government to undertake a review of regulatory arrangements across the energy sector, including gas and electricity markets. That prospect would cast a considerable shadow over the regulatory framework, thereby reducing confidence for investors and undermining the very certainty that the Bill is seeking to achieve.
The noble Baroness particularly mentioned REMIT. We are working closely with Ofgem to ensure that the implementation of REMIT, which provides the regulator with further enforcement powers, takes place effectively and as soon as possible.