Recommendation 22

The Department recognised that rebalancing was an important issue, given the ratio of electricity to gas prices was “high compared to many comparative countries” as a “lot of the policy [ … ] and network costs in this country are placed on electricity rather than on gas”.61 But it has delayed addressing this issue for three years.62 The Department told us that it is important to address this issue in a way which is affordable and fair.63 This is because some households cannot avoid using gas and might see their bills increase if levies were moved from electricity to gas bills.64 The Department provided assurances that it was taking this issue seriously, but could not provide a timetable for completing its planned work on rebalancing.65