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10 | 19th - 25th February 2016 | utILIty WeeK Interview is the first time I've had this unique oppor- tunity of working with people that both understand the industry and the chal- lenges and risks in depth, but also think very much like nimble financial investors," he says. EPH has decided to focus its European growth ambitions on Italy, where it has acquired Eon's interests, and the UK: "They've picked those two for very specific reasons around the fact they are at the end of the transmission and transactional value chain; they're discrete, and have got some very interesting characteristics around supply, demand and policy." In the UK, that translates to considerable ambi- tions for both the acquisition and new-build of power stations. O'Hara is one of the brave souls planning to play in the capacity market. EPH is looking at a number of sites for potential new-build gas-fired power stations, he says, and would love to have one ready for this winter's auc- tion – "though it's going to be tight". There are numerous factors at play, from the size of the site to its potential for gas transportation links and its proximity to local towns. The ambition is there but O'Hara, who is something of a pragmatist, is clear about the challenges: "We'd be abso- lutely delighted to get [just] one." He is also clear that something needs to change at a policy level. Only one new-build CCGT power station qualified at last year's capacity auction, because the clearing price was so low. "If you want a sub-£20 clear- ing price and no new CCGT, you've got the outcome you want," O'Hara smiles ironically. "Those economics won't work [for us]. As long as that's the outcome, we won't be building new CCGT and I don't think anyone else will. Something needs to change somewhere to achieve a higher price." O'Hara looks forward to the outcome of the current government review of the auction, but sug- gests "it's quite probable there's going to be no change this year. They've got to think their way through this stuff carefully". That said, O'Hara believes the vision that energy sec- retary Amber Rudd set out last year, of an end to una- bated coal by 2025, is achievable: "She's le herself enough space to manoeuvre, though Plan A has to be new-build CCGT." Meanwhile, there are potentially more straightfor- ward deals in the making, as EPH is also in the market to acquire, and is in the process of "several" negotiations. He says the company is "very comfortable" owning and operating existing plant, be it coal or gas, adding their experience with Eggborough has taught them valuable lessons. "While being in SBR is not where we would pre- fer to be, we've become experts in managing very low load factor coal stations, which isn't easy. They aren't meant to be run a few days a year. We're very comfort- able with taking on low load factor coal and dealing with some of the other issues around coal, through our prefer- ence is clearly going to be gas." This touches on one of O'Hara's key themes, the close- ness of EPH's UK team and the depth of its operational experience. "We don't have people who are theoretically, conceptually involved in running power stations. We've all been in the trenches." A seasoned media player, O'Hara won't be drawn into quantifying EPH's UK ambitions, either in terms of money or megawatts. "I wish I could, then it would be a really simple story. It's opportunistic. They think in a different way – they don't think scale, they think oppor- tunity and value. It's opportunity-driven, bottom up, and each decision is a mar- ginal decision." Which brings us neatly to the real rea- son for today's interview, the imminent launch of a very different type of venture: Energy scanner, an online marketplace (emphatically not a price comparison website) for SMEs to transact with energy providers. O'Hara lights up as he talks about a project so close to his heart. He has been hankering to do something of this nature since his days at British Energy, he says, when he had to shut down the SME retail operation because he couldn't find a way of making it pay. "I struggled with paying huge fees to intermediaries and didn't have a rela- tionship with the customer. It just didn't work. We closed down, and that has been lurking in the back of my head ever since." O'Hara sets out the scale of the opportunity: 2.5 mil- lion SMEs in the UK; 95 per cent of them are unaware they're paying fees to third party intermediaries (TPIs) for their energy; only 23 per cent of those able to switch have actually done so in the past year; and 36 per cent have never switched. This stickiness is a problem the Competition and Markets Authority highlighted in its recent provisional report on the energy market, together with concerns over the transparency of TPIs. O'Hara says this intervention has further convinced EPH is it is "play- ing in the sweet spot.". EPH's solution, Energyscanner, allows SMEs to trans- act their complex energy deals in just three minutes, thanks to technology sitting in the background which creates bespoke quotes for each customer from the pric- ing matrices submitted by suppliers. The supplier retains control of the pricing matrix, and owns the relationship with the customer, who is transferred to them post-trans- action. Unnecessary repetitions of expensive processes such as credit checks are cut out of the chain, because they only need to happen once. Meanwhile, the customer gets to conduct their business online, with transparent fees that don't favour any one supplier over another, and transact then and there with the contract delivered to their inbox. It sounds simple, but O'Hara claims it is unique, offer- ing value to both customer and supplier. The task now is get both sides on board. He says up to a dozen suppliers of all sizes have signed, or are about to sign, on the line; and plans are in place for a targeted marketing campaign for customer acquisition, including digital and local radio advertising. The key to success will be gaining criti- cal mass on both sides. There is further growth in store too, with plans to get into the water market when that opens to competition for non-household customers next year. "No-one else is doing what we're doing. We're tak- ing a complicated [buying] event, with huge price matri- ces, and we're doing so much more than just a single price comparison. We're creating the quote – it's a very, very complex output. It's amazing, we've got it so slick." It's a neat solution – and O'Hara's enthusiasm is con- tagious – but surely, it's a long way from coal-fired power stations? "Absolutely – and that loops you all the way back to the top, which is EPH. They're disciplined, ana- lytical, but also understand the strategic side. What are we in the UK? We're the opportunity funnel." And opportunities abound. As the conversation draws to a close, it's clear that for O'Hara and colleagues, the journey that started with Eggborough has barely just begun. "We don't have people who are theoretically, conceptually involved in running power stations. We've all been in the trenches."