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6 | 4TH - 10TH MARCH 2016 | UTILITY WEEK People & Opinion The UK's smart energy future Smart meters will allow customers to be put at the centre of an energy system geared to delivering low carbon, affordable power. Chief executive Q&A Lawrence Slade, chief executive, Energy UK E nergy UK published a report last week, Pathways to 2030, which sets out how the sector could meet the considerable challenges the UK faces in balancing costs with affordability while meeting envi- ronmental and security goals. Chief executive Lawrence Slade speaks with Utility Week about the smart energy future, which will be more responsive to customers and their needs, as well as the simplification of bills and the smart meter rollout. Q: What do you see as the key takeaway points from the report? A: I don't think it is necessarily surprising but the report leans very heavily on the fact that we've got to start looking at this "whole systems approach", not isolating power from heat and transport, on how we structure the energy market going forward rather than concentrating on the system and policies we see in place today. I think also what is coming out of the report is, industry can play its part but also government and other stakeholders need to step up to the mark and we all actually need to be having the same conversation about how we are trying to move the UK to a low carbon future. Q: Is there a disconnect between customers and the elements that make up their bills? A: Yes. We are on this journey towards decarbonisation of our energy system moving into a low carbon world and we really have to make sure that we are taking everyone with us. This means domestic consumers, industrial consumers and commercial con- sumers. I really don't believe that we've had conversations with consumers around what we are doing, why we are doing it, the period it is going to take, how much it is costing and ultimately what the benefits are. Q: Would it be useful for con- sumers to know how their bill is broken down? A: I think ultimately yes, whole- sale and operating costs should be shown, but it is going to vary from person to person in terms of how much interest is there. I think we've really got to try and get this message over that energy costs or wholesale costs make up all of the bill. We need to help people understand what the make-up of the bill is, what the constituent parts are and what each one means. That actually is part of the broader conversation that asks a social question, should some- one in fuel poverty be paying for the same things a middle class family are paying for? There is a regressive taxation element to that conversation. For too long we haven't had these conver- sations and it is time for gov- ernment policy and how these things are charged out to be more transparent. I see absolutely no reason at all why anyone should be scared of that. It is a conver- sation that we should be having and the UK should be very happy to say we are decarbonising, this is how we are doing it and this is how it is structured. Q: What impact would scaling back the 97 per cent smart meter rollout target have on the programme? A: Actually, 100 per cent cov- erage is a bit "out there". It is always going to be challenging to say we are going to get a smart meter into every house regard- less of the situation. We know there are challenges around timescale and technology and we also know every suppler is committed to the rollout. So I think it's a case of how close eve- ryone can get to that, and ulti- mately everyone will agree it's difficult to do 100 per cent. "I believe trebling the contribution made [by demand side response] is a very real prospect and an essential step towards going green" MEUC's technical director Eddie Proffitt