ICIS: 2015 outlook: Politics and regulation to reshape British gas market

The political and regulatory environment is likely to have far reaching effects on the British gas market in 2015 with an election looming that promises to bring the industry under intense scrutiny.

Leader of opposition Labour party Ed Miliband’s pledge to freeze consumer energy bills if they win the general election on 7 May 2015, raises the potential of a severe squeeze on suppliers trading in the wholesale market.

While the policy has been widely derided by the industry, the opposition party saw a strong boost in the polls. Should the freeze be implemented for 20 months as Miliband pledged, this could see utilities losing vast sums of money if prices rise and they are unable to pass this on to consumers.

The party has promised in-depth reform of the sector, although the effects of this on the gas market are hard to quantify with much of the details about the policy unclear as of yet.
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