Ofgem was accused on Wednesday of not going far and fast enough with reforms designed to prevent another meltdown of Britain’s energy retail market, which has seen 26 suppliers fail in just over four months.

The reaction from some of the big suppliers and analysts came after the regulator published plans to subject gas and electricity providers to new stress tests from January. But it admitted the exercise would be “simple” and “targeted”, falling short of the forensic bank-style checks that some of the larger companies and think-tanks had demanded.

The regulator also proposed a range of measures to address criticism of its oversight of the market, including a possible change to the energy price cap. These could see it reviewed every three months, up from twice a year, or even more frequently if certain parameters were breached.