Tuesday 11 January 2011

Ofgem boss in parliamentary hot seat

Ofgem boss Alistair Buchanan is to be put in the hot seat by the government next week.

The chief executive will give evidence to a one-off session of the Energy and Climate Change Committee next Tuesday, in which he will answer questions on gas and electricity prices, competition in UK energy markets, the government's Electricity Market Reform, and the future of Ofgem.

Mr Buchanan praised the EMR within hours of its announcement in the House of Commons last month. He said the measures were "an important step on the road to changing the electricity market to meet consumers' long-term interests for reliable and low carbon energy supplies".

Mr Buchanan has been chief executive of Ofgem since 2003. He is also a member of the Business Energy Forum and the UK Energy Research Partnership and previously was a non-executive director of Scottish Water.