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UTILITY WEEK | 9TH - 15TH DECEMBER 2016 | 7 Interview P ublic interest and scrutiny has focused once again on the energy sector in the wake of GB Energy Supply going out of business. Concerns are mounting over the sustainability of smaller suppliers as temperatures plummet, and these come on top of delays to the smart meter rollout, increas- ingly loud threats from politicians about intervening in the market, and changes being instigated by the regu- lator following the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe into the sector. With these issues all simmering, the need for the consumer voice to remain prominent in the debate is paramount – so believes Which? executive director Alex Neill. Utility Week meets her at the consumer group's tem- porary offices next to London's Paddington station. Much like the energy sector, its HQ is undergoing some- thing of a change, with the renovations to its Marylebone base due to be completed early in the new year. Its current home, which is in the same building as a new renewable energy firm, feels like that of a start-up, with a coffee bar, free-to-use beer tap, and a healthy snack stall all on the same floor. It all creates a relaxed atmosphere – something that is very much at odds with the tensions within the energy sector today. We find a meeting room, decorated with wallpaper designed to make it look like a library, and tackle the hot topic of the morning – price freezes. SSE had just announced it was freezing its prices, and a number of other retailers were about to follow. Neill sees these moves as something of a mixed bless- ing for consumers, but gives SSE credit for being the first out of the blocks. "Will Morris [group managing director, retail at SSE] has got a commitment to do the right thing and going first is the right move. If you're second, third or fourth, everyone gets bored of it. "It is nice that they are not going to put up prices but the standard variable tariff [SVT] is still the most expen- sive tariff. In some ways, it's not that helpful because it is giving customers the message that they're alright to stay on this tariff as opposed to that they should be moving." Neill is obviously frustrated about some of the manoeuvres of energy suppliers. She acknowledges that there must be a rationale for them to announce price rises and freezes when they do, but she is scathing about the "herd mentality" of the major suppliers. "What is worrying is the pack mentality, with one aer another, aer another – all with very similar rea- sons. The situation is, prices do have to change but in this market people just don't think it's competitive enough. This all adds to the same problem, where cus- tomers think there is no point in moving." The solution to this could come in the form of the CMA's remedies from its two-year investigation into the market. Neill is hopeful that the implementation of the remedies will lead to a rebuilding of trust and a reinvigoration of competition in the sector, but she is not totally convinced that it will. "We're not quite in a place where we should abandon hope in the market. We do believe in the market but there is a problem with competition in energy – no one has got it right so far." Neill adds that "reading between the lines of the CMA report", it has a similar attitude towards the sector and it is saying "this is the last roll of the dice". Leaning forward and with a slightly sterner tone of voice, she targets the next comments at the retailers. "It will all come down to the suppliers. If in five years' time we're still in the same place and still getting the same outcomes, then [government intervention] will be the right result and suppliers will only have themselves to blame." Chief among her worries is the attitude of the suppliers themselves. This is what prevents her hope