UTILITY WEEK | JUNE 2022 |
5
KNOWLEDGE WORTH KEEPING
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Time for an
Energy Reset
Utility Week's Energy Reset campaign was launched last September amid a
urry of supplier failures with the aim of nding opportunity within crisis.
The central ask of the campaign was for long-term reform of the market to
be taken seriously, to support sustainable businesses and sustainable prices.
More speci cally, we called for a new approach to regulation, targeted support
for the vulnerable, a recognition of the importance of energy e• ciency as a way
of reducing energy usage, and reform of wholesale markets to re ect the falling
cost of renewable power.
At the end of May we produced an in-depth report exploring these themes,
which appears to nally be getting traction in Whitehall.
The report (a summary of which you can nd on p14-17) was being nalised
just as chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled his £15 billion support package to ease
the pressure on bills this winter. Reaction to this is gauged on p12-13 but the key
takeaway is that one-o‹ government handouts cannot be the sole solution to
protecting struggling billpayers. Government should instead look to the recom-
mendations of our campaign.
In the weeks that followed publication, there were serval reports indicating
that policymakers were nally taking the long-term view, with promises of an
update of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) and sugges-
tions that an Eco+ scheme could be unveiled to ramp-up energy e• ciency
installations.
In mid-June Ofgem set out its proposals to bolster nancial resilience in
the energy retail sector. This was another topic discussed in our report – and
the one on which there are the widest variety of opinions. As set out on the
Review pages overleaf, this has already led to confrontations between Centrica
and Octopus Energy on the subject of how customer credit balances should be
protected.
This is an important debate and goes to the heart of building trust with
consumers and ensuring retail business models are sustainable. However, it
is important that it is not over-simpli ed and the industry needs to be wary of
getting into a very public spat that undermines support for market reform. The
progress we have made so far is too valuable to be put at risk.
James Wallin, editor, jameswallin@fav-house.com
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Editor
James Wallin,
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Head of content
Nadine Buddoo,
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t: 01342 332054
Features editor
Lucinda Dann,
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News editor
Tom Grimwood,
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t: 01342 332061
Innovate editor
Stuart Stone,
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Senior reporter
Adam John
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Water correspondent
Ruth Williams,
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Policy correspondent
David Blackman,
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Dragos
European industrial infrastructure
cyber threat perspective
https://bit.ly/3zQRw6U
Evides
Water – A Key Consideration in
Achieving Net Zero 2050
https://bit.ly/34H9Geo
Letter from the Editor
James Wallin
Neos Networks
The Digital Future of Renewables
report
https://bit.ly/3ie2vx5
