Utility Week

16 | JULY 2021 | UTILITY WEEK Policy & Regulation Event Empowering the people Decarbonisation will require mass behavioural change among consumers, but how best to do this? A Utility Week roundtable brought together senior leaders to discuss the issue with the UK's net zero business champion Andrew Griffith. James Wallin chaired. T he government should shi its focus from "old-fashioned" notions of con- sumer engagement on the net-zero transition and instead pursue a policy of "environmental by default", according to an energy sector leader. Utility Week's roundtable, "Activating the Potential of Individuals in Climate Combat" held in association with Capgemini and Energy UK, focused on the best ways to com- munciate the message that everyone has a role in combatting climate change. It brought together senior figures from across the gas, electricity and water sec- tors with some contrasting views on how to ensure "public buy-in" and whether that is actually necessary. The point was made early on in the debate, and unanimously supported, that despite all of the progress in decarbonising the power sector, the next stage of the net- zero journey will be far more complicated and new approaches are needed. However, there was less consensus on the best approach to take the transition into people's homes. One energy network CEO pointed to a recent study that found only 15 per cent of the public believe they have a role in stop- ping climate change. They went on to say that the utilities sector has an important part to play in empowering customers to see that their individual actions can make a difference. Other industry leaders warned that the vast majority of the public are never going to meaningfully engage in the finer points of decarbonisation. One CEO said: "Just look at smart meters. That was the world's worst thing to get a customer to pick and choose. Why did we think people would want a choice on that? "We need to be careful about what we ask consumers to engage in. "If you go to the doctor and find out you've got a serious illness, you don't want to hear, 'I can give you five choices'. You want to be presented with a solution to the problem." They cited the decarbonisation of heat as an example of an area where it would be especially difficult to inspire the public. "It's not like electric vehicles [EVs] – peo- ple love cars. There's a kudos to it. "Heat is much more difficult but there is a natural cycle of replacing boilers. I can't imagine people getting excited about it but people have to do it. "There are a small group of people out there who will get excited by decarbonisation of heat but the majority won't. We have to get away from the old-fashioned idea of consumer engagement. Make it easy for them. Make it the default. Make it so, why wouldn't you pick that." They stressed that the "catalyst" for this could be new-build homes. "Create the rules and then you will get the innovation, which will drive the costs down." Another senior figure in an energy retailer agreed with this approach, urging the gov- ernment to "mandate and make decisions". They said: "With gas boilers – just say it. Give the command to the regulator – no retrotfit of gas boilers aer 2030 and that will develop the heat pump market. Then you can talk about subsidies and creating green jobs. "The fastest way to get things done is to assume that customers won't change, set the default in the way you want it and educate the customers so they don't go against it. "It's really about environmental by default, so the customer doesn't have to choose but they can if they want." However, another CEO said pointedly that: "We're not China. We don't dictate. People want to feel they have a role in stop- ping climate change. "I agree that we have got to make it really easy for the consumer and we certainly have to drive down costs. But, for me, the lesson from the smart meter programme isn't that we shouldn't bother to engage with the pub- lic but that we should do a better job of it." A water company CEO said that in their own smart meter programme, they had taken on board a lot of the "painful lessons" from the energy sector. "A lot of that was about being clear about what we, as the utility company, want to get out of smart meters as well as the customer. "It's showing us a lot of really valuable stuff about behaviour and we're able to reflect that back in a way that helps customers save water and save money. It's a simple and a powerful message." A fellow water sector boss said there were lessons to learn from the pandemic on how to communicate the need for behaviour change. "In late February last year we were all in denial – going on about our days with no real change, despite some pretty scary signs that this thing was serious. A month later, we were adapting to a completely different way of life. That was a month. We're two years on from the climate emergency being announced but I'm not sure it's drilled deep into people's consciousness that we really are facing an emergency, and that it needs a demand-side as well as a supply-side response." They added that in engagement with cus- tomers, the inter-generational impact of cli- mate change had been one successful way of prompting action. "When you present to customers that if we don't act now, the cost falls on the next generation, that is a real penny-dropping moment. In that context people see how important it is that they play their part now or they are just leaving the problems to their children and grandchildren." James Wallin, editor "We need to be careful about what we ask consumers to engage in.

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