§ 16. Mr. GardinerTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what response he has made to the Ofgas report into anti-competitive practices by Transco; and what measures he proposes to assist and protect public gas transporters. [71613]
§ Mr. BattleThis report is a matter for the Director General of Gas Supply, who has since made and announced an Enforcement Order on Transco. The Competition Act 1998 will from next year provide tough new powers for the investigation and prohibition of anti-competitive agreements and abuse of market power, exercisable by the sectoral regulators (including the DGGS) concurrently with the Director General of Fair Trading.
The Government have also conducted a review of utility regulation the main conclusions of which were set out in our response to consultation, "A Fair Deal for Consumers: Modernising the Framework for Utility Regulation", published in July 1998. We are committed to legislating on utility reform as soon as Parliamentary time permits.