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utILItY WeeK | 6th - 12th June 2014 | 9 Interview A s the 35th minute struck, Richard Lloyd's heart sank. The executive director of Which? was mak- ing a mystery shopping call on behalf of an elderly couple and the supplier in question had lived up to all his worst expectations, keeping him hanging on hold. To top that off, once he'd finally got through to a call handler, he was faced with 23 minutes of box-ticking and being read terms and conditions. Lloyd wasn't surprised. His opinion of suppliers is low – though not as bad as his view of their representa- tive, Energy UK, with whom he has clashed numerous times. He also has harsh words for the Department of Energy and Climate Change ("rudderless"), energy sec- retary Ed Davey ("singularly unable to win trust") and Energy UK's chief executive Angela Knight ("pipe down and get off the telly"). However, always the optimist (his term), Lloyd believes the coming Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) inquiry could fix the market, and has helpfully set out a blueprint with Which's "Fix the Big Six" campaign. This calls for: increased competition in the energy market; transparent wholesale energy trading, accom- plished via the separation of the generation and retail arms of the vertically integrated companies; simpler pricing and swier switching; a control of additional costs being added to bills due to government policies; the rebuilding of consumer trust; and warmer homes via an effective energy efficiency scheme. The campaign includes a petition, which was launched in February, which aims to get more than 60,000 signatures. Once that target has been achieved – it currently has more than 46,000 – it will be presented to Decc, Ofgem, the CMA, and the major suppliers. The mystery shopping call was part of Which's work