UTILITY WEEK | DECEMBER 2022 |
9
Interview
T
hree years aer arriving in the UK from France,
EDF managing director of customers, Philippe
Commaret, speaks to Utility Week about some of
his key concerns amid the current energy crisis and
highlights a disparity between public perceptions and
reality when it comes to the profitability of the sector.
It's fair to say Commaret has not had a smooth ride
since taking on the role.
He started his UK role in December 2019, a decade
aer first joining EDF as marketing director in its home
territory of France.
Mere months aer his arrival, the world was in the
midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic, which forced
the retailer to completely re-evaluate its approach to
supporting customers. Just as the industry was emerging
from this upheaval, the impact of rising wholesale gas
prices plunged the fragile UK energy retail sector into
meltdown. Since then, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has
added even more volatility to a situation in which energy
retailers are in the spotlight of a cost of living crisis.
Three years on from his appointment, Commaret
reflects on the lessons he has had to rapidly learn about
the UK energy retail market and the challenges he per-
ceives going forward.
Key among these is liquidity, specifically the amount
of energy available on the wholesale market for energy
retailers to buy from generators. Wholesale liquidity, he
adds, has been halved over the past year and as such is
"absolutely a critical topic to be addressed".
He points to a number of reasons as to why there is a
lack of liquidity on the forward markets. These include
the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme disincentivis-
ing generators to sell forward their energy. Generators
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