Welcome to the Spring edition of 'Inside RECCo'. It’s been a little over a year since I joined the team at RECCo.
During that time, we have experienced many changes:
None of this would have been possible without the hard work, diligence and co-operation of our Board, our team members, our service providers and our broader stakeholder community, including REC Parties, policy makers and regulators, and other code bodies with whom we have collaborated with to make it happen.
My thanks go to you all. We are now well placed to fulfil our mission which is to facilitate the efficient and effective running of the retail energy market, promoting innovation, competition and delivering positive consumer outcomes.
While internally we’re ready to fulfil our mission, the reality of our external environment has become far more challenging with the exit of suppliers caused by the unintended consequences of the energy price cap combined with the spike in energy prices.
Regulatory change is now underway which I hope will alleviate the situation for consumers and industry alike in the medium term, but the shattering of peace in Europe and the lack of clarity for an end to the conflict in Ukraine suggests that energy prices are likely to stay higher for longer.
This will make it more difficult to deliver what consumers need most – a return to more normal retail energy pricing. For this reason, it’s essential that RECCo continues to deliver on those things within our control including delivering our Strategic Programmes and within budget.
As we approach our financial year end for 2021-22, our latest forecast suggests that we will be delivering within budget so we will be returning a rebate to REC Parties in due course. Full details of this will follow the closing of our financial accounts and audit. I am also pleased to report that following the consultation of our draft Strategy and Budget, after taking consideration of stakeholder comments, our 2022-23 Budget has been approved and is published here.
Our priorities over the coming months include to provide an excellent Code Manager Service, preparations for Switching Programme go live on 18th July 2022, the implementation of Ofgem’s new Market Stabilisation Charge which will become operational at the end of June 2022, and the commencement of our Metering Code Consolidation Programme.
At the beginning of March, we welcomed Paul Hallas to RECCo’s Board as an independent non-executive director and, at the end of March, the Board will become fully independent, as we wish a fond farewell to our industry-representative Board members who have played such an invaluable and influential contribution in overseeing the creation of RECCo.
Our thanks goes to our industry-representative Board members Steve Mulinganie, Richard Tracey Pitcher, Richard Pomroy, Alex Travell and Kevin Woollard."
I hope you enjoy this month's edition of the RECCo newsletter. In here you’ll find important updates and key deadlines, as well as a chance to get to know members of our team.
As always, if you have any comments or suggestions on how we can better engage with you as our stakeholders, please get in touch with us at: info@retailenergycode.co.uk
