Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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6 | 1ST - 7TH MAY 2015 | UTILITY WEEK "Don't promise anything you can't deliver. Deliver everything you promise and never let customers feel let down again." Nicola Eaton Sawford, managing director, Customer Whisperers "Whether they're thinking about Escos or city energy firms, cities are moving to take control of their energy systems. This is going to be hugely disruptive for the existing energy industry." Paul Brodrick, head of connected communities, Siemens, "Do we need different value capture frameworks to redefine business models in their broadest sense?" Professor Chris Rogers, Centre for Resilience Research and Education, University of Birmingham "How we use our network will evolve, but the gas network of tomorrow is still the gas net- work of today." David Parkin, gas distribution director, National Grid "The UK will continue to use gas. The question is whether we pay countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar or invest in domestic sources that support the economy and comply with environmen- tal regulation we can trust." Mike Foster, chief executive, Energy & Utilities Alliance Conference & exhibition Utility Week Live, 21-23 April, Birmingham Utility Week Live: review W hat a week! Footsore and notebooks bursting, the Utility Week team headed back from Birmingham's NEC last week in celebratory mood aer the successful launch of Utility Week Live. Building on the long-standing success of the IWEX exhibition for the water sector, we launched Utility Week Live, incorporat- ing IWEX, to cater to the changing needs of the UK's energy retail and distribution, and water sectors. We know how many demands there are on your time, and we wanted to make sure that every minute spent at Utility Week Live was worth your while. As well as all the exhibitors you'd expect, and a chance to meet your customers at our sister show Sus- tainability Live, Utility Week Live was packed with content across three free seminar thea- tres on the show floor and the accompanying Keynote conference. The seminars, covering energy, water and pan-utility issues from the technical to the strategic, were a roaring success. Our over- view of the new totex regime in the water industry was standing room only, and the lively debate on fracking bought its pan-util- ity implications firmly to front-of-mind. The industry's biggest issues were on the agenda in the Keynote conference, which tackled the over-arching themes of change, trust and resilience over a three-day pro- gramme. Hosted by BBC Radio 4's Simon Jack, the thought-provoking programme explored different models for leadership and innovation, the challenges of rebuild- ing trust, and new approaches to tackling increasing incidences of extreme weather. Speakers from outside the industry inspired the audiences, with notable pres- entations from Dunnhumby chief executive Simon Hay and former Burger King chief executive Barry Gibbons. It was an amazing week – and we're already hard at work planning next year's show. See you there! EB Next Week We'll bring more in depth coverage from Utility Week Live next week when we'll explore what we learned at the event about: 1. Changing business models in the energy sector 2. Pathways to decarbonisation 3. Handling totex 4. Disruptive innovation Seminar insights Three days in Birmingham The utility sector gathered for the first time at Utility Week Live last week. We report from the show floor and conferences.