The Changing Model of Economic Regulation in the United Kingdom

This workshop will discuss the increasing importance of ‘fairness’ as a criterion for more active intervention in UK markets, especially energy and telecommunications markets, by economic regulators such as OFGEM and OFCOM. Fairness defined as fair treatment for consumers demands that economic regulators significantly extend their focus from price regulation to the regulation of the terms of contracts between regulated companies and their customers. Measures to address concerns about the use of private data are of particular importance to any such reforms, as well as the higher compliance costs that regulators would face under such an approach. Drawing on the recent findings of behavioural economics which suggest that regulators will have to use formal rules for intervention, such as more stringent conditions of service, as well as ‘nudges’ in order to secure compliance, the workshop will bring together academics, practitioners, and policymakers to propose policies to ensure that consumers receive fairer treatment through effective regulation.