Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 19TH - 25TH OCTOBER 2018 | 13 Policy & Regulation Who's in charge? Katie Bickerstaffe, chief executive designate Katie Bickerstaffe was previously chief executive of the UK and Ireland division of multinational electrical and telecommunica- tions retailer Dixons Carphone – a role she had held since 2015. While chief executive of Dixons, she helped oversee its £4 billion merger with Carphone Warehouse, so she is familiar with the challenges of execut- ing mergers between industry heavyweights. Furthermore, as a non- executive director of SSE – a role she has held for seven years – she has considerable experience of the UK energy industry, and insight into the challenges busi- nesses in the sector are negotiat- ing. Part of SSE and Innogy's rationale for hiring Bickerstaffe is to capitalise on her knowledge of customer-facing businesses. Martin Read, chair designate Martin Read is currently chair of logistics company Wincanton and the government's Senior Salaries Review Body. Read has held positions as chair of the Low Carbon Contracts Company and the Electricity Settlements Company – the bodies responsible for the administration of contracts for difference and capacity market contracts – and as chair of the Renumeration Consultants Group. He has also held roles as chief executive of IT services company Logica, in which he oversaw its merger with CMG in 2002, and chair of electronics and technology firm Laird. Gordon Boyd, chief financial officer designate Gordon Boyd joined the energy sector in 1989 and has held senior finance leadership positions at utilities including British Energy and EDF Energy, as well as oversee- ing the initial public offerings of both Drax and Infinis. The executive committee: Jason Scagell, busi- ness-to-business director designate Responsible for all aspects of large business energy supply and services. He is currently director of corporate affairs and develop- ment at Npower. Stephen Forbes, chief commercial officer designate Responsible for all commercial aspects of household and small busi- ness energy supply, including pricing, marketing, and develop- ment of energy-related products and services. He is currently chief commercial officer at SSE Energy Services. Chris Pilgrim, chief human resources officer designate Responsible for all people- and employ- ment-related matters. He is cur- rently HR director at Npower. Tony Keeling, chief operating officer designate Responsible for household and small business customer service, digital services and metering, including the smart meter pro- gramme. He is currently chief operating officer at SSE Energy Services. Simon Stacey, transformation director designate Responsible for corporate strategy, transformation, and the tracking and delivery of integration ben- efits. He is currently managing director of home and business at Npower. 30 Aug 2018: CMA gives merger provisional clearance 10 Oct 2018: CMA gives merger the green light 14 Sep 2018: Martin Read appointed chairman designate August September October Three questions that still need answering • What is the merged company's name? No decisions have been made yet about the name of the new company. SSE and Npower say they expect to continue to operate under their existing brands in the short to medium term. Although a merger of the two names ("SENpower") has been speculated about, this is unlikely to actually be the name, as the two businesses have made it clear they want to distance themselves from their parent com- panies and create an entirely new independ- ent brand. For now, the merged company has been catchily named the "Combined Retail Company". • Will there be any job losses? Npower's website says the new company will employ around 15,000 people. Currently Npower employs around 11,500, while SSE (as a whole) employs more than 20,000 people. However, a spokesperson for Npower told Utility Week in May that all of the company's employees will be with the new merged company before the RWE-Eon mega-deal completes in late 2019. • When will the merger complete? This is, as yet, unknown. SSE says it is continuing to work towards completion in the first quarter of 2019, and "more information will become available in the coming months". Until the transaction is complete and the new company lists on the stock exchange, SSE Energy Services and Npower remain "entirely separate companies" and will continue to compete as normal. >11.5 million After completion of the merger, the new company will have more than 11.5 million customer accounts across Great Britain

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