CMA issues provisional determinations in gas network licence appeals as extended 31 October deadline approaches
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a summary of its provisional determinations in August 2026 in the Energy Licence Modification Appeals 2026, a regulatory appeal proceeding involving five gas distribution companies challenging licence modifications imposed by Ofgem (the energy regulator, whose governing body is the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, or GEMA) following the RIIO-3 price control review. RIIO-3 (short for Revenue = Incentives + Innovation + Outputs, the third iteration of Ofgem's price control framework) sets the maximum revenues gas distribution network companies can recover from customers. The four appellants granted permission to appeal are Cadent Gas, Northern Gas Networks, Southern Gas Networks and Scotland Gas Networks (as a joint applicant), and Wales & West Utilities. All were granted permission to appeal on all grounds, with the RIIO-3 Ongoing Efficiency grounds to be considered jointly across the appeals. Main hearings took place in June 2026. Citizens Advice was granted permission to intervene in the appeals on the grounds relating to Ongoing Efficiency in April 2026, representing consumer interests alongside GEMA. The statutory deadline for the CMA's final determinations was extended by one month, on 4 September 2026, and is now 31 October 2026. The licence modifications being challenged were imposed on 3 February 2026, following GEMA's price control decisions of 4 December 2025. The appeals process is governed by the Energy Licence Modification Appeals: Competition and Markets Authority Rules (CMA70), and the CMA panel deciding the case comprises Kirstin Baker (chair), Robin Cohen, and Colleen Keck.
Why this matters
The outcome of these appeals will directly determine how much revenue the major UK gas distribution networks can recover from customers under the RIIO-3 price control, affecting investment levels in gas grid maintenance and upgrades at a time when energy infrastructure investment is a key policy priority. A determination that is materially more generous to the networks than GEMA's original position would increase consumer bills but potentially support capital expenditure on the grid. The Ongoing Efficiency ground, on which Citizens Advice intervened, is likely to be the most commercially sensitive: it determines whether networks are deemed to have delivered efficiency savings, which affects the revenues they are entitled to retain.
On the Ground
Regulatory appeals of this kind sit at the intersection of energy regulation and administrative law, generating work for both specialist regulatory firms and barristers' chambers with public law expertise. The appeals involve detailed economic expert evidence on efficiency benchmarks, price control methodology, and network cost modelling. A trainee supporting the appellants' legal team would assist with regulatory filing coordination, preparation of the hearing bundle and chronology, witness statement organisation, and tracking the timetable against the statutory deadline. Final determinations due by the extended 31 October 2026 deadline mean client teams will be actively preparing now for either acceptance or further challenge.
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