Ofgem asks whether energy complaints should go to more than one ombudsman
The Energy Ombudsman has been the only approved dispute service for complaints against energy suppliers since 2008. Ofgem has now had an application from a would-be rival and is also planning for disputes involving energy brokers and comparison sites.
An application from another organisation that wants to provide the same service as the Energy Ombudsman has led Ofgem to consult on how energy complaint services are approved and supervised. Since Ofgem approved it in 2008, the Energy Ombudsman has been the only alternative dispute resolution provider for complaints against gas and electricity suppliers that customers cannot settle with the supplier itself.
Ofgem says the application, received earlier this year, means it has to decide how such applicants are assessed and whether customers are better served by one provider or several. This consultation will not choose the number of providers or name them. It was published on Wednesday 11 November and closes on 27 January 2027, with responses going to TPI@ofgem.gov.uk. Ofgem wants to hear from current and prospective providers, suppliers, intermediaries, consumers and their representatives, and trade bodies.
The regulations that used to set out how dispute resolution providers were assessed and supervised, dating from 2015, were revoked by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. That Act created a new accreditation regime, but energy redress schemes approved by Ofgem are exempt from it. Ofgem still has its approval power under the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007, and the government plans new regulations when parliamentary time allows.
Until then Ofgem proposes interim criteria in five areas: access and awareness, capability, independence and fairness, governance and financial arrangements, and transparency. It also asks how long an approval should last, how providers should be reapproved, and how their performance should be monitored through audits and independent reviews.
Brokers and comparison sites
The second half of the consultation looks ahead to third-party intermediaries, such as energy brokers and price comparison websites. Ofgem has no power to approve dispute schemes for them today. Instead, suppliers must make sure the intermediaries they work with on microbusiness and small business contracts belong to a qualifying dispute settlement scheme. Ofgem names the Energy Ombudsman, the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman and the Utilities Intermediaries Association as the organisations it understands to be running these schemes.
That could change. The Energy Independence Bill, introduced to Parliament on 4 November 2026, includes provisions that would bring intermediaries under the 2007 Act, allowing Ofgem to appoint a dispute scheme for them as it does for suppliers. Anything Ofgem decides for this sector depends on the bill becoming law and those provisions being brought into force.
Changes already in train
The consultation also lists reforms Ofgem is taking forward after the government's consultation on energy redress. Customers would be able to take a complaint to a dispute resolution provider after 6 weeks instead of 8, and providers would have 4 weeks rather than 6 to reach a decision. The government has also said it will let providers penalise suppliers that apply a remedy late or not at all.
