Senior Economist

Job summary

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.

Job description

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

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Analysis and use of evidence: ability to analyse quantitative and qualitative information, identify issues, and develop options and recommendations on a wide range of technical, commercial and policy issues ( LEAD )
• Price control and incentives: experience of working on price control and incentives policy or delivery
• Communication: ability to communicate effectively to a range of internal and external audiences, both verbally and in writing
• Stakeholder engagement: ability to build collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, to represent Ofgem in external meetings, and to use influencing skills to secure desired outcomes
• Organisational skills: ability to proactively prioritise, plan and schedule complex and diverse tasks

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £49,452, OFGEM contributes

£14,326 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Ofgem can offer you a comprehensive and competitive benefits package which includes; 30 days annual leave after 2 years; Excellent training and development opportunities; The opportunity to join the generous Civil Service pension which also includes a valuable range of benefits; hybrid working (currently 1 day a week in the office but this is kept under review), flexible working hours and family friendly policies. Plus lots of other benefits including clean and bright offices based centrally, engaged networks and teams and an opportunity to contribute to our ambitious and important targets of establishing a Net Zero energy system by 2050. This exciting blend of professional challenge and personal reward identifies career opportunities at Ofgem as something to get excited about.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

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.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window) .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the

Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window)

and the

Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) .

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window) .

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available.

You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Shannon Ward
• Email : recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel there has been a breach of these Recruitment Principles.

In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly via recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission, please visit their website.

• Attachments
• Senior Economist_Role Profile_477888 Opens in new window (pdf, 103kB)
• Senior Economist_Candidate Pack_477888 Opens in new window (