Consumer First Panel for Ofgem - Wave 1

In 2007, Ofgem launched its Consumer First initiative to ensure that it properly understands a broad range of consumer perspectives when making policy decisions. As part of Consumer First, it commissions primary research/engagement with consumers, interrogates and learns from research conducted by other organisations and looks to measure the impact of its activities on all consumers. The Consumer First Panel has been a flagship project within the Consumer First initiative for the last four years. It consists of a Panel of around 100 domestic consumers who meet a number of times over the course of a year to discuss and feed in to key policy issues.

The fourth year of the Panel, run by Ipsos on behalf of Ofgem, focused primarily on the Retail Market Review (RMR), to ensure that the retail energy market is simpler, clearer and, fairer for all consumers. Ofgem’s Consumer First research and RMR proposals can be found on its website. 

Ofgem Consumer First Panel Year 4: findings from the Ofgem Consumer First Panel workshops Overall the Panel supported the need for standardised and easily understood language on pricing and energy use information. Many also want to limit the number of tariffs to help them compare prices, and they want to see greater effort by energy suppliers to build relationships with their customers. The research also found that consumers want to see more done to:

• Help consumer understand how they can use information (e.g. about their personal energy use) to find the right tariff for them
• Ensure that supplier communications are easy to understand for all consumers
• Assure customers that potential savings/benefits can be realised by switching to the right tariff for them

Download Panel 1 report Consumer First Panel Year 5 In November 2012, Ofgem commissioned Ipsos to run the fifth year of the Consumer First Panel. As per previous years, Panel membership is renewed and workshops are held in new locations in order to ensure views reflect those of domestic energy consumers from across Great Britain. The Panel will commence in January 2013 and involve a minimum three waves of workshops. Technical note A deliberative method was considered the optimal approach to allow participants to explore energy-related issues. It is particularly useful when participants are unfamiliar with a topic, in this case the detail of how the energy market operates. As a result, some of the workshop time was dedicated to informing consumers about a wide range of energy issues and discussing how these might change in the future. These discussions allowed Panellists to give their top of mind views, before having a more informed discussion around different propositions.