Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 18TH - 24TH OCTOBER 2019 | 17 Policy & Regulation Joining forces – the whole systems view of the business What once may have been an industry dream must fast become a reality, said those panellists advocating a "whole system" view of energy and water strategy. Collaboration, whether it be within the sector or with external agencies, can deliver game-changing service for customers and businesses – from driving efficiency to sup- porting and empowering those in the vul- nerability space. Edel Creery, head of communications and stakeholders at NIE Networks, talked of the benefits of partnership, citing how a customer engagement advisory panel involv- ing representatives from NIE, the regulator, consumer and environmental groups, and government has helped not only its previous business planning but future direction. "We feel we are making the building blocks for our next price control. Yes, we are improving service for customers today, but we are also looking to the future." "Partnership [with other agencies] enables us to leverage their very specific expertise. We are largely an organisation of engineers. This is ticking a whole lot of boxes at the same time, at a very low cost." Clive Bairsto, chief executive of trade association Street Works UK, pointed to the great wealth of infrastructure and environ- mental change arriving over the course of the next decade and the common challenges it will bring for health and safety – both for workforces and the public – as well as work quality, cost and speed. But he also highlighted the environmen- tal factors now arriving at a street works context, such as the disposal of more exca- vated spoil, the effect of disturbance on the PH balance of soil, the need for more electric vehicles to be involved in road restoration, and recycling. "The whole climate change thing has two or three quite close pinch-points on street works, which is not really being picked up closely by contractors – or indeed utilities." Matt Cole, head of customer vulnerability at Npower, shared some thought-provok- ing messages for the energy sector on fuel poverty. There are lots of people doing good things, he said, but not necessarily the right things or enough. "We've all got to start thinking differently." With energy companies not the first port of call for people who are very vulner- able, including those with cancer, Npower teamed up with Macmillan to recognise the impact on lives, earning potential and self-disconnection. It discovered how 88 per cent of people who self-disconnect have children or long- term health conditions. Half have a daily dilemma of whether to heat or eat, and would never contact an energy company for help. Smarter approach No-one needs tell industry the dial has been turned up for utilities, thanks to burgeoning consumer expectation. And progress – such as providing omni-channel com- munications, or the opportunity to take more control of energy and water usage – is happening. Yet the sector's success at getting this message across feels far from "job done" territory. A broad panel of industry leaders with expertise across water, energy and data revealed how, despite their own clear customer strategies, huge challenges still lie ahead if they are to ever emulate the seamless service of exemplar players, like Amazon. From the beleaguered smart meter rollout, for exam- ple, to the opening of the water retail market, there was general acceptance that potential customer-enabling benefits of some vital industry programmes had so far been dogged by rollout issues or operational hurdles. Chris Barlow, innovation director at Smart DCC, accepted that currently the day job may be 95 per cent focused on the smart meter rollout, but he said much strategic work was also being done around the new inno- vative customer offerings smart meters can bring, such as faster switching and interoperability. "I see the future as being very much customer proposition-driven, mak- ing energy simple, and very easy to consume." Three months into her post as MOSL chief executive, Sarah McMath said most of the participants in the water retail market would "not quite see it functioning as they would like it to". Two-and-a-half years on, savings are minimal (£8 mil- lion pounds against the £300 million cost of opening the market), and water efficiency hasn't taken off. Mean- while, while many would agree self-supply was func- tioning, smaller customers see little financial worth in switching. Electralink insights expert Paul Linnane called for as much data as possible to be made available to as many players as possible. "We are hoping to work more with innovators, to provide data to them, so they can work out how to change the market." Chris Lovatt, residential managing director at Eon UK, said: "We see opportunities in the innovation happening. The challenge we have is for the mass market, with the average consumer still taking their cue from the media." "IT likes lots of new shiny things but we're not necessarily deploying them for the right situation." BEN NEWBY, CHIEF CUSTOMER OFFICER, BRISTOL WATER

• Cover