Administration of the Ofgem Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Fund

Description

In some circumstances, Ofgem’s enforcement and compliance work results in a regulated entity making a voluntary payment into the Voluntary Redress Fund. The purpose of the fund is to ensure that the monies paid by those subject to our compliance and enforcement activity are used to help vulnerable consumers. The fund is managed by a third-party service provider. This ensures that decisions relating to the award of funds to particular projects are made by an expert independently from Ofgem and those entities that we regulate. The service provider must adhere to the to the provisions of the contract and the Authority Guidance on the Allocation of the Redress Fund for the time being – the link to which is provided in an attachment to this notice. This guidance may be updated from time to time at Ofgem’s discretion’ We intend to continue with the existing approach and to once again procure an experienced service provider with knowledge of the British energy sector and the needs of energy consumers to administer the Voluntary Redress Fund on our behalf upon the expiry of the current contract in May 2026. The main tasks will likely include: * Maintaining a database of possible and actual redress recipients, undertaking regular diligence checks. * Administering and allocating funds to projects (in compliance with the Authority Guidance on the Allocation of the Redress Fund) that benefit energy consumers via a fair and transparent process. * Preparing and entering into binding agreements with redress recipients that contain proportionate governance, deliverables, milestones and a monitoring framework. * Publicising the fund and the availability of redress funds, making known to the general public key information regarding the impact and performance of the fund. * Pursuing an ethos of continuous improvement; providing insight as to how efficiencies can be made to improve the administration and impact of the fund. * Taking appropriate action to, where possible, prevent breaches of binding agreements with redress recipients, or enforce the terms of such agreements. * Provide effective and robust financial management of redress funds. * Ensuring that appropriate governance arrangements are in place to ensure that all projects awarded funds are appropriately monitored.