OFGEM is consulting on legally binding commitments from Perth-based SSE following its investigation into whether SSE’s behaviour could have impeded competition in the market for connecting new developments to SSE’s electricity distribution networks.
OFGEM’s consultation, which runs 3 August 2016, seeks views from interested parties on the appropriateness of OFGEM accepting the commitments offered by SSE.
The whole market for providing these electricity connections is worth over £500 million per year in Great Britain with hundreds of thousands of connections made every year, for example, to new housing estates and business premises.
Independent companies compete against Britain’s regional electricity distribution network operators, such as SSE, to connect new customers to those networks.
OFGEM’s investigation identified competition concerns relating to SSE’s behaviour in providing services needed to enable it and its competitors’ to connect up new development sites. The behaviour in question included inconsistencies in providing essential information to competitors when competing to provide connections.
SSE has agreed to put in place new processes and procedures to ensure consistency in its pricing and when identifying points of connection to its electricity distribution networks. OFGEM considers that these commitments will meet the competition concerns that have been raised.
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