Ofgem spends £4m on London office - despite work from home policy

Energy bills to fall in July as Ofgem confirms price cap drop |

GB NEWS

Isabelle Parkin

By Isabelle Parkin


Published: 15/09/2025

- 00:01

The Taxpayers' Alliance said the Government should 'consider axing Ofgem'

The UK's energy regulator Ofgem has spent close to £4million on its office in London despite allowing staff to work from home.

The watchdog has an office in Canary Wharf, even though it allows employees to enjoy flexible working, including the option to work from home.


Ofgem also operates out of offices in Glasgow and Cardiff.

Last year, it paid an annual rent cost of £1.9million for its London base, plus another £1.8million for utilities such as lighting and heating, according to The Telegraph.

This is despite figures from the regulator showing that in the last financial year, just 204 of its 1,226 full-time employees worked from the office on a typical day.

Ofgem says that its maximum office capacity is 30 per cent of its headcount in each of its three city offices.

However, on an average day last year, there was only a 17 per cent attendance from staff, The Telegraph reports.

TaxPayers' Alliance William Yarwood said: "Taxpayers are sick of working their socks off while quangocrats work from their beds and leave their swanky office space lying fallow.

Ofgem has spent close to £4million on its London office

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"It’s even worse that Ofgem is the latest culprit, given its rank failure to hold down energy bills," he added.

"Ministers should consider axing Ofgem and liberating the energy sector from the shackles of government control and regulation."

An Ofgem spokesman said it keeps office arrangements "under review".

The spokesman added that is to "ensure optimal desk space and good value for money".

An Ofgem spokesman said it keeps its office arrangements 'under review'

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GETTY

"Ofgem’s maximum office capacity is 30 per cent of our headcount in our London, Glasgow and Cardiff offices," the spokesman said.

"So the 20 per cent minimum attendance requirement ensures that, to date, there has been working space for all in our offices without employees being forced to hot desk or sit in corridors.

"We keep our office space arrangements under review to ensure optimal desk space and good value for money.

"We have cut the number of desks available at our London office and made the space available to other civil service departments."

In the past Ofgem has been criticised for being too weak with the energy giants and failing to protect households as domestic gas and electricity prices increase.

It was blamed by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee in 2022 for leaving consumers on the hook for a £2.7billion which came as the 29 energy suppliers collapsed.

The Committee found the £94 per household consumers would have to cover was due to "Ofgem's failure to effectively regulate the energy supplier market".

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