Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | SEPTEMBER 2021 | 21 Customers Analysis Learning from Leave How do you convince millions of sceptical consumers to engage with smart meters? By listening to Vote Leave, that's how. Adam John talks to Smart Energy GB chief executive Dan Brooke. W hether you like it or not, one of the most successful pieces of nationwide behaviour change marketing was around the Brexit vote." So says Dan Brooke, CEO of Smart Energy GB, the organisation responsible for promoting the take-up of smart metering by businesses and households. From the animated double-act "Gaz and Leccy" to a bathing Albert Einstein, Smart Energy GB (SEGB) goes to some lengths to grab the nation's attention. Yet underlining these humorous antics is an important mes- sage: smart meters are a vital part of the road to net zero. Established in 2013, the independent, not- for-proŒ t company's mission is to get Brit- ain on board with the smart meter rollout. Brooke joined the company in March 2020 from his own consultancy, having previously worked for nine years at Channel 4 where he was chief marketing and communications o" cer and board champion for diversity and inclusion. At the end of March 2021 there were 24.2 million smart and advanced meters in homes and small businesses across Great Britain, representing 44 per cent smart coverage. Ahead lies a major task to engage every home and small business, promoting the beneŒ ts of the devices and explaining how they will underpin the UK's drive to net zero. Because it is addressing the whole popu- lation, SEGB needs to tailor campaigns at a multitude of di– erent demographics. Brooke sees this as the biggest challenge. He says: "Before, SEGB's mantra was one message delivered to everybody consistently. There's merits to that but my view is that dif- ferent people respond to di– erent messages, in di– erent combinations at di– erent times. Therefore we need a bit more of a matrix or layer for our marketing and communications campaigns. "The brilliant thing about digital is you can try three or four di– erent approaches against di– erent audiences, see which works best, and you can just drop the one that is not producing the numbers and expand the one that is being most successful." Elsewhere, the pandemic has impacted each area of the UK di– erently and has fur- ther underlined the need to tailor messaging towards di– erent groups. Brooke says the company has had to be "incredibly ™ exible at very short notice" when communicating with parts of the country facing di– erent restrictions. Inspiration from Brexit Aside from geographical di– erences there are also di– erences in types of people. Brooke says he and the company take inspiration from the Leave campaign of the 2016 EU ref- erendum. He believes there are lessons to be learned from the way in which the Euroscep- tic side engaged a mass audience, targeting people who may have previously been apa- thetic towards politics. He says: "We've tried to learn a lot from that. It's the ability to target with a range of di– erent messages that you test to see which is the most e– ective." Some industry commentators have pre- dicted that the hardest part of the rollout is yet to come, and that many of those who are without a smart meter are so because they do not want a device. Brooke calls this group "rejectors" and makes it his mission to engage them. He continues: "Just to give one exam- ple, among a certain type of rejector audi- ence, national pride is very important. The national beneŒ t of upgrading our energy infrastructure to help us reach net zero is going to be a fundamentally important part of everybody doing their bit for Britain. "Some people respond to a net zero mes- sage, other people don't. But many peo- ple respond well to a message about doing something for your country. "What's interesting is that we have just been through a process in Britain for the past 18 months where everybody is being asked to do that. Everybody is being asked to change their behaviour for the good of the whole. "Given how relatively simple it is to get a smart meter installed, it's a simple way that everybody can play their part in advancing the future of Britain. That's one of the things we are testing, we are testing it against net zero messages and seeing which is most successful." Learning from television Brooke is no stranger to dealing with mass audiences with a variety of needs, having spent almost a decade at Channel 4. He sees his television experience as not all that dis- similar from working in the energy sector. "It's more similar than you might think. It's a heavily regulated world where commer- cial entities are required to do a whole load of things by the government and by the regula- tor that are public service in nature," he says. While there is still some way to go before the 2025 deadline is reached (and even then it is uncertain how far along the rollout will be), does Brooke feel there is a future for SEGB to transition to a more general purpose green energy campaign? "We all know that to be successful, con- sumer behaviour change is going be a big part of that. We obviously have a massive amount of experience now with consumer behaviour change across the country, par- ticularly in relation to net zero. "Task number one is to demonstrate that we can do that as successfully as possi- ble and then as the rollout reaches its later stages I will be ensuring that the government learns as much as possible from our experi- ences and our expertise." Adam John, senior reporter "Some people respond to a net zero message, other people don't. But many people respond well to a message about doing something for your country." Dan Brooke, CEO, Smart Energy GB don't. But many people respond well to a message about doing something for your country." Dan Brooke Smart Energy GB "

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