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David Capper has worked on energy and climate issues for more than 13 years for three different government depart- ments. He has been at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) since its creation in 2008, and currently heads the Future Electricity Networks team. Here, he answers some quick-fire questions ahead of his presentation at the Future Networks Conference. What's the most important lesson/idea people should take away from your presen- tation? The government is serious about smart systems and wants People & Opinion Utility Week community Speaker's corner David Capper, deputy director and head of future electricity networks, Decc to make substantial progress in this parliament. What has been you most suc- cessful or challenging experi- ence in your career and what did you learn from it? Negotiating climate change deals in the EU and UN is tough. Very tough. But it can be done. Identify five people you would invite to your dream dinner party and why? Frankly, I'd just take my family. And that would leave a space for David Attenborough. Name four items you keep on your desk/with you at work that reveal something about your interests/personality. Everyone in Decc hot desks. So I'm not likely to have anything on a desk other than a com- puter, a phone, some papers and a pen. The main event David Capper is speaking at the Utility Week Future Networks Conference on 15 March in Birmingham. www.uw-futurenetworks.net UTILITY WEEK | 8TH - 14TH JANUARY 2016 | 7 Keith Mason, formerly director of finance and networks at Ofwat, has been appointed to the newly created role of senior director for Thames Tideway. Mason's new role was announced to Ofwat staff in December by chief executive Cathryn Ross as part of a wider update on the reorganisation of the senior leadership team. The overhaul has already seen the departure of former chief regulation officer, Sonia Brown. EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS "Amber Rudd must hope she is well endowed with that priceless political commodity – luck." T he pleased and relieved faces of energy ministers and officials in Paris should be one of the enduring images of 2015. Amber Rudd welcomed the deal. Achieving any sort of consensus among close to 200 states – with differ- ent starting points, technology preferences and immediate domestic policy challenges – was in itself an achievement. The challenge for individual governments now is to make the promise a reality. The conclu- sion to the Paris discussions was sandwiched between two announcements that illus- trate why there appears to be continuing confusion about the government's attitude to reduc- ing carbon emissions. It is hard to see how pulling the promised £1 billion from the competition for carbon capture and storage (CCS) does anything other than set back our ability to reduce industrial emissions. Jettison- ing environmental protections on underground gas extraction suggests a view of unconven- tional gas as much more than simply an intelligent alternative to importing the gas we will con- tinue to need. In reality, both of those changes were more about the Treasury than Decc. The institu- tional orthodoxy of the Treasury is to be against anything that adds costs in the short term and in favour of bills that come in the future. It is this attitude to investment that can leave inno- vation hamstrung. When former energy secretary Ed Davey popped up to criticise the aban- donment of CCS, he neglected to mention that the £1 billion of funding was initially raided by his colleague Danny Alexander when he was chief secretary to the Treasury. The chancellor's attitude to shale gas is based on an overly optimistic extrapola- tion of the US experience, highly unlikely to be economically viable when a barrel of brent crude is trading at about $36. Rudd and the government are going to be reliant on external factors aligning in early 2016. Her best chance is for the relatively mild but windy weather of the early winter to continue through to March, for Opec to change its approach to oil supply and a consequent modest increase in price, for the final outcome of the CMA's investigation to include meas- ures that are both deliverable for industry and acceptable to consumers and for smart grid technology and storage to make huge strides in spite of appar- ent government indifference. At least two of those may well happen, one seems unlikely and the other is the weather. The combination of tighter margins, an imbalanced supply mix and a commodity price yet to find its floor brings not only short-term problems but also inhibits medium term mitigation and long-term action. Mostly that is out of the control of ministers, so Amber Rudd must hope that in 2016 she is well endowed with that priceless political commodity – luck. Opinion Tom Greatrex, Former shadow energy minister