REGULATION, REGULATION, REGULATION

 The headline came to mind when I was sent an article containing this extract:

"Our headline session for the conference was a fireside chat with Jonathan Brearley the CEO of Ofgem. We discussed many things but the one thing that I can report clearly, was the certainty that more regulation will be coming as we head further down the net zero pathway.
 
This got me thinking. The broker market is much maligned but there are hundreds if not thousands of brokers out there, who do a great job for their clients. Many are partners for us helping to distribute our future Net Zero Standard, which offers carbon accounting, accreditation and advice.
 
And that is the future. Advice and assistance to help companies cut their carbon and that is a role the brokers can not only fulfil but excel at, because they are seen as independent.
 
More regulation will be needed as we transition – how will we govern peer to peer energy trading? Charging standards and infrastructure? Battery storage and usage tariffs or investments. Financial reporting for carbon and investment vehicles?
 
All of these will be areas for regulation and therefore opportunity. Brokers can be ideally placed to offer the end business consumer the right advice to exploit these opportunities of the future. But they MUST also ensure they and their customers comply to regulatory changes."

This is hardly something the government, or any politician will want to highlight, but it certainly rings true. We already feel over-regulated with all the legislation that we currently have to comply with, but the next generation will look back at this time and think of it as a relatively free period compared with what is coming. I remember when politicians spoke of a "bonfire of regulations", but I have yet to see it. As you can see from the extract, there are large numbers of people whose whole existence depends on regulations.