Additional consultation on licence modification for provision of information

The Utility Regulator has published a further consultation on licence modification to the ‘Provision of Information to the Authority’. This consultation relates to all relevant electricity and gas licences with the exception of the supply licences, which were recently consulted upon in October 2024.

The driver for this licence modification is our new Corporate Strategy which is focused on greater transparency, including publishing more relevant information that promotes the interests of consumers and reflects the expectations of stakeholders. 

The current 'Provision of Information to the Authority' licence condition effectively provides that we may not request information from the licence holder for the purposes of the exercise of its functions under Article 7 of the Energy (Northern Ireland) Order 2003. 

Article 7 of the Energy Order provides that where it appears to us that the publication of any advice and information would promote the interests of consumers, we may publish that advice and information in such manner as we see fit. 

We consider that the current licence condition places unnecessary constraints on our ability to obtain information which could potentially promote the interest of consumers if we were to publish that information or advice based on the information.

This is the second of two consultations. We have already consulted on modifications to the supply licences in October 2024 and we are now focused on the remaining electricity and gas licences in this consultation.

Ways to respond