Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1309237
14 | DECEMBER 2020 | UTILITY WEEK Build Back Better Analysis Green recovery beckons At Utility Week's Build Back Better Forum regulators, policymakers and other experts met online to discuss the sector's role in the green recovery. Here are some highlights from across the two days. "It's important for net zero that utilities are investible. The green infrastructure projects and the measures to reduce demand don't come for free. All of this has to be financeable." Peter Simpson, chief executive, Anglian Water "The government's net zero target means that the UK's buildings will need to move entirely over to low carbon heating by 2050. Working backwards, there are a lot of complex things that need to happen to achieve this outcome. There needs to be a gear shift in policy. And there needs to be significant work undertaken to ensure the evidence is in place to inform major future decisions." James Heath, chief executive, National Infrastructure Commission "[In PR24] Companies will need to be more connected than ever before to what is important for customers." Rachel Fletcher, chief executive, Ofwat View from the Chair The Build Back Better Forum offered up a feast of opinions, perspectives and lobby- ing from an impressive array of the energy and water industry's most senior and influ- ential leaders. The keynote presentations, interviews and panel debates which took place over the two-day event triggered a glut of news stories for Utility Week (rounded up for you here) as speakers aired their ambitions to be at the forefront of a green and inclusive recovery from the pandemic – as well as their frus- trations with policy and regulatory impacts which they hold responsible for hampering this enthusiasm. Overwhelmingly, though, the key mes- sage which consistently chimed throughout the event was the sense of privilege and responsibility leaders have felt throughout the trials of 2020 as they have seen busi- nesses and jobs in less resilient sectors crumble under the pressures of the pan- demic. The message was especially strong from network operators across the energy and water sectors, whose responsibility for critical national infrastructure has insulated them and their workforces from the interrup- tions and damage being wreaked elsewhere. Leaders were open in expressing their relief and pride at being able to offer security to their employees throughout a time of such troubling uncertainty. But the sense of privilege also went beyond an appreciation of utilities' relative economic and operational resilience in the context of the pandemic. For many leaders who took the stage at Utility Week's virtual conference it also manifested in a rediscov- ery of social purpose. Both Peter Simpson, CEO of Anglian Water, and Colin Matthews, non-executive chairman at EDF Energy who opened the event with a double interview, confirmed that the Coronavirus pressure cooker of social and economic disruption has caused them to think again about what it means to be a good corporate citizen in times of crisis and beyond. The theme continued from session to ses- sion, with leaders highlighting new and rein- forced pledges to invest in communities and formalise social contract obligations in cor- porate reporting and financial performance mechanisms as they seek to sustain a new and more vital awareness of their potential to make a difference to individuals, commu-