Can Regulatory Reform Unlock the UK's Clean Energy Future with Georgina Mills (Ofgem)

Sep 11, 2025

Georgina Mills, Director of Energy Systems Management & Security at Ofgem, discusses the crucial role of regulation in achieving the UK's net zero goals. She delves into the balancing act between keeping energy bills affordable and encouraging clean energy investments. Georgina highlights the importance of innovation in regulatory frameworks and explores how consumer behavior can shape future pricing models. She also examines the impact of electric vehicle growth on energy regulation and emphasizes the need for agility in a rapidly changing market.

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INSIGHT

Time-of-Use Works Only With Capability

Time-of-use tariffs can better signal when to consume, helping shift demand away from peaks.
But practical barriers like consumer awareness, ability to respond, and poor implementation have caused backlash elsewhere.

INSIGHT

Self-Generation Creates Fairness Tension

Customers with self-generation and storage can avoid volumetric charges most of the year but still rely on the grid at worst moments.
That raises fairness questions about whether they should still contribute to fixed system costs.

ADVICE

Explain And Simplify Fixed Charges

Explain fixed charges clearly so consumers understand what they buy and why they pay.
Consider alternative sector models like subscriptions where fixed and variable costs are bundled into a simpler monthly price.

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Delivering a decarbonised power system isn’t just about building more renewables and storage, it’s also about regulation. The rules that shape investment, protect consumers, and manage risk are critical to whether the UK can hit net zero on time.

But regulation comes with trade-offs. How do you keep bills affordable while ensuring enough capital flows into clean infrastructure? How do you encourage innovation without compromising reliability? And how can Ofgem strike the right balance between investor certainty and consumer protection in a period of huge change?

In this conversation, Ed speaks with Georgina Mills, Director of Energy Systems Management & Security at Ofgem about the regulator’s role in the UK’s energy transition. They discuss the frameworks that shape investment in networks, the need for agility in a fast-changing market, and what regulatory innovation might look like as we build a net zero system.

Key topics covered include:

Why regulation is central to delivering net zero on time.
The trade-offs between consumer protection and investor certainty.
How Ofgem is adapting frameworks to enable flexibility and innovation.
The role of regulatory signals in unlocking clean energy investment.
What the future of energy regulation could look like in a net zero world.

About our guest

Georgina Mills is Director of Energy Systems Management & Security at Ofgem, where she leads reform of network charging and facilitates low-carbon investment across Great Britain’s electricity system. With experience spanning regulatory roles in both the UK and New Zealand, Georgina oversees initiatives that balance consumer protection with system resilience

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

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