Senior Economist

Ofgem is Great Britain's independent energy regulator, playing a vital role in protecting consumers, enabling investment and supporting the transition to a secure, affordable and low-carbon energy system.

The successful rollout of smart meters is central to the modernisation of Great Britain's energy market, helping consumers better manage their energy usage while enabling a smarter, more flexible energy system that supports Net Zero objectives. At the heart of this system sits the Data Communications Company (DCC), a licenced monopoly responsible for providing the secure communications infrastructure that connects smart meters with energy suppliers, network companies and other authorised users.

As a Senior Economist, you will provide economic and regulatory analysis to support Ofgem's oversight of DCC, helping to ensure consumers receive value for money through efficient costs, strong performance and effective regulation. Working within a small, collaborative team, you will apply economic thinking and analytical skills to some of the most important decisions affecting the future of the smart metering programme.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the team at a pivotal point as DCC transitions between regulatory regimes. You will contribute to the delivery of a final ex-post price control for the outgoing licensee and help develop a new multi-year ex-ante price control framework that will shape DCC's future revenues and incentives. Using evidence, data and economic analysis, you will scrutinise complex issues, assess regulatory options and develop robust recommendations that support effective decision-making.

You will work closely with colleagues across Ofgem, as well as senior stakeholders in DCC, government and industry, building constructive relationships and communicating complex analytical findings clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Key Responsibilities

• Leading workstreams within the final annual ex-post DCC price control process including the assessment of costs incurred by the licensee in given areas, the application of an incentive regime and oversight of a compliant end-of-licence financial closure
• Leading workstreams within a new multiannual ex-ante price control process, including the assessment of the licensee’s business plan and proposed expenditure, analysis of business cases and CBAs; developing robust proposals for our positions on price control outcomes; and delivering written consultations
• Monitoring the licensee’s compliance with price control determinations, including review of quarterly cash-flow and revenue reporting and forecasts, and end-of-year reporting; assessing re-opener applications and in-period revenue adjustments
• Optimising the price control and incentives frameworks; eg assessing how the price control/incentive framework should apply in novel situations; reviewing guidance to DCC to reflect changes in policy or context
• Supporting the review and approval of the licensee’s Business Strategy & Technology Roadmap document
• Supporting the review of Ofgem’s long-term view of DCC regulation, including in the context of Smart Meter Implementation Programme governance transition; this may include establishing a business case review function within the team
• Building constructive working relationships with internal stakeholders (including legal advisers), DCC and Government
• Contributing to other work undertaken by the team as it arises; this may include reviewing of compliance documents

Main outputs and deliverables

• Robust quantitative and qualitative analysis informing sound advice to senior decision-makers
• Clear and concise drafting for external and internal audiences, including contributions to briefings, internal decision documents, and consultations
• Effective project planning and timely delivery of outputs
• Constructive working relationships established with internal and external stakeholders

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

When you press the ‘Apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the sift panel), your career history and qualifications.

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential criteria and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the criteria listed in the role profile. In the event of receiving a large number of applications, an initial sift may take place on just the lead criteria indicated in the essential criteria.

The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found by [https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn].

At Ofgem, we expect our staff to carry out their roles with honesty, fairness and openness. They should follow the Civil Service code and be free from any influence or bias. We are committed to making sure interests are recognised, declared and managed appropriately so that we can fulfil our duties as an energy regulator. Our Conflicts of Interest policy outlines the types of interests Ofgem staff must declare before onboarding, and the rules they must follow throughout employment so that we can clearly demonstrate that our decisions are not influenced by private interests.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.