UK considers expanding regulatory powers to tackle energy price gouging, profiteering

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that his government may consider expanding the powers of the competition regulator to tackle price gouging and profiteering in the energy market, given the impact of the Middle East conflict.

"We are looking at measures to deal with profiteering ... we might look at what further teeth we can give the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) to deal with this," Starmer told a parliamentary committee.

"I want to see more on price gouging or profiteering ... we're actively considering whether the CMA should have additional powers to deal specifically with that, but at the moment we're making sure they're focused on anti-profiteering."