30) REC-ing your brain over faster switching?

The Energy Essentials Podcast from Cornwall Insight

In our latest podcast, Associate Director for Training Ed Reed, Analysts Kate Morley and Emma Bill, come together from different locations to discuss Ofgem’s Faster Switching Programme and the underlying Retail Energy Code (REC).

With the new faster switching arrangements set to go-live in summer 2022, the trio revisit the programme’s aims and discuss some of the more recent developments during 2020 including a Full Plan Review. The podcast follows the spring edition of our Faster Switching Service (FSS) which sets out the latest programme-related developments – consultations, decisions, announcements, and programme meetings. Our FSS also provides a walk-through of the entire Switching Programme from the outset and details the REC and the associated schedules to the new code.

We discuss what lies ahead for the programme in 2021, with the programme gearing up for User Entry Process Testing, End-to-End Testing, and retail code consolidation. As we head towards these and other) key programme milestones, we consider the compliance implications of the new switching arrangements for suppliers and also third party intermediaries (TPIs) such as Price Comparison Websites (PCWs). In doing so, we look at related announcements from BEIS and Ofgem around the reform of retail market arrangements and the regulation of TPIs. We note recently announced plans to progress discissions between PCWs and suppliers to consider the implications of programme implementation, which we consider a positive move.

Our experts touch on several questions including:

What is the faster switching programme and where are we at now?

What are the compliance implications of the incoming arrangements?

How will non-supplier parties be impacted, in particular, TPIs?

What are the some of the challenges/risks for implementation?