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| JULY 2022 | UTILITY WEEK
Energy
From rebates to real reform:
the case for an Energy Reset
As part of our Energy Reset campaign, leading energy retailers
have contributed to a major report compiled by Utility Week and
PA Consulting. Editor James Wallin gives an overview of the report
along with an excerpt from a chapter on future competition.
A
s set out on the preceding pages, the
Treasury's £15 billion support pack-
age to protect customers from winter
price hikes, which took place just a• er our
last magazine went to press, was widely
praised by the sector.
However, it also highlighted that short-
term solutions are not sustainable in the face
of complex underlying problems a ecting
the volatility of prices and the way they are
passed on to consumers.
The issue is at the heart of Utility Week's
Energy Reset campaign, which aims to use
the current spotlight on energy prices to
highlight the need for wider market reform.
This is an unavoidable step in reducing
energy usage, bringing down bills and decar-
bonising the country.
Now leading energy retailers have shared
their views with Utility Week for a major
new report, Creating Sustainable Businesses
and Prices, produced in association with PA
Consulting.
The report looks at how the potential of
retailers to drive forward the energy transi-
tion can be unleashed, by creating the condi-
tions for sustainable businesses that deliver
sustainable prices.
However, change cannot come about
through reform of the energy retail market in
isolation. The work to ensure a retail market
… t for the future will be a core part of tackling
the much discussed – and suddenly very top-
ical – energy trilemma of balancing net zero,
security of supply, and a ordability. This
requires much wider reform to ensure the
wholesale market reˆ ects the falling price of
renewables and that decarbonisation meas-
ures support a rapid rollout of green power as
well as incentivising demand-side response.
These issues, and the frictions aris-
ing from them, are discussed in the report
through interviews with suppliers, Ofgem,
politicians, trade and consumer bodies and
independent experts.
