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Angela Knight will address delegates at the Utility Week Congress on 15 October on the conundrum of balancing affordability with investment needs in the UK energy sector. She advises: "Be open about cost and impact issues and do not be selec- tive. Industry must be clear and fact-based in the points it makes, linking up the whole policy from genera- tion through to house- holds with the inten- tion of fully informing the public and so engendering an open and honest debate." People & Opinion Utility Week community Speaker's corner Angela Knight, chief executive, Energy UK Personal notes: What has been the most chal- lenging experience in your career and what did you learn from it? At the age of 22, as the second ever female graduate trainee at the industrial gas company Air Products, I ended up doing night shis at Vauxhall Motors in Luton. I was in charge of a furnace there and learnt how to manage in an entirely male shop floor environment. I also learnt stamina, pragmatism and to maintain a sense of humour and balance. Huge opportunities can present themselves in unlikely forms and at different points in your life and you should grab them with both hands. Identify five people you would invite to your dream dinner party and why? My former political boss Rt Hon Ken Clarke QC MP, my former chairman Lord Green, my brother Andrew, a girl I went to school with who has remained one of my oldest friends – the professional chef Ruth, and the man of my dreams. The food would be excel- lent – thanks to Ruth – and the discussion around the table would be lively and extremely interesting – thanks to Ken, Stephen and Andrew. Also, with Ruth as a no- nonsense lady keeping them in order, I might be able to get know the fih guest, the man of my dreams – I don't yet know who he is! Name four items you keep on your desk: A large pile of papers. Two phones, which enable me to get hold of people and allow anyone to get hold of me. A list of things that need doing that are not to do with work. And a dictaphone, which enables me to get through much more work than would otherwise be the case. Global view Exit announcement Angela Knight last week announced that she would step down from her role at Energy UK at the end of 2014. She intends to develop her non-executive experience. She said: "It has been a great two years bringing Energy UK together to support and represent at such an important time, this industry that is so vital to the country." big Data, big Difference eighty-nine per cent of top level executives believe big data will revolutionise their business in a way similar to the arrival of the internet, according to the results of an Accenture survey. the study, Big Success with Big Data, canvassed the experiences of over, 1,000 top level individuals working in 19 countries and across seven sectors 37% said a transformation of customer relationships would be the top impact of big data in the next five years 51% said the biggest challenge to implementing big data pro- grammes was security 47% said budget was their biggest barrier 54% said they had started internal training programmes to combat the lack of big data talent and skills, which was identified as the third biggest barrier UtILItY WeeK | 19th - 25th September 2014 | 7 "Research suggests that households who adopt [a] five-a-day routine could knock over £100 off their annual bill – this could mean as much as £10 off your monthly direct debit." Baroness Verma, parliamentary under secretary of state for Decc, talking about the 'five-a-day' energy ef- ficiency concept at the Behave conference on 3 September. More, p25 read the full report on the trial at http:bit.ly/energyLabellingtrial the US energy Information Administration predicts world liquid fuel consump- tion will rise 38 per cent from 87mmbbl/d in 2010 to 119mmbbl/d in 2040. China, India, and other developing countries in Asia are expected to account for 7 out of 10 bar- rels of this growth.