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8 | 5TH - 11TH MAY 2017 | UTILITY WEEK Interview Eon has a keen interest here. Cocker becomes animated as he talks about Eon's increasing work with municipalities, councils, and cities on strategies to service their social and economic needs with joined-up, clean energy solutions like energy storage and heat networks. The company even has a division for highways lighting to play into this agenda. Second, with regards to industrial strategy, Cocker welcomes the fact that the government's recent green paper and consultation "calls out the energy sector and the fact that it will compose a huge part of national infrastructure investment in the next decade. It also calls out energy as a business cost" and highlights the transformative impact the electrification of transport and decarbonisation of heating should bring to clean growth in the UK. Cocker says all of this is "absolutely in tune" with Eon's strategy for customer-focused, clean energy solu- tions, which has been dogma since the company split away from its conventional generation and trading busi- ness, where Cocker himself spent his early Eon days. Indeed, it is also in tune with the Eon UK "reset", which Cocker spearheaded when he first became chief executive. His leadership throughout this significant programme of restructuring and cultural overhaul, designed to fix a failing relationship with customers and empower front- line workers to "engage empathetically" with them and "do the right thing", has won him the enduring loyalty of colleagues throughout the business. His combative select committee appearance in 2013, when he was grilled about prices by an unsympathetic Tim Yeo, reportedly received rounds of applause in customer contact centres where it was viewed on big screens. Meanwhile, executive co-workers tell Utility Week how Cocker made himself a "visible" leader in a time of challenge and change. They speak of his continued willingness to listen to colleagues from top to bottom of the business, spending time with call centre and meter- fitting teams. They point to his enduring determination to bring customers into face-to-face discussions about service and process improvements and his calm clarity of purpose. "There used to be a 'Heinz 57' approach to strategy," says one colleague. The reset changed that into "a one page strategy" that the whole company understands and is guided by – or at least 87 per cent of it, according to an employee survey conducted in autumn 2016. This hard-won unity within Eon, which has been strengthened by the company split, has reaped rewards. Net promoter scores have inched upwards year on year and the company now consistently tops league tables run by organisations such as Uswitch and Citizens Advice for best customer service and complaints han- dling in both the domestic and non-domestic energy markets. Furthermore, while Eon as a whole has displayed some decidedly lacklustre financial performance in recent years – for 2016, Ebitda was down 15 per cent to €4.9 billion and revenues fell by 11 per cent to €38.1 bil- lion – the UK business has been relatively buoyant. Full year results for 2016 showed profit up 14 per cent on the previous year, despite customer losses which impacted revenues. The record of good performance is not unblemished. Cocker acknowledges the "mistakes" which have led to fines from the regulator, such as a £7.75 million penalty in 2015 for overcharging customers. But the chief executive says such instances have served to reinvigorate internal efforts to drive out process error and find ways to improve systems for reduced cost, simplification, and better customer experi- ence. Some say that the big six energy companies – a term Cocker takes issue with – will never be able to drive out bad customer experience. They reason is that their scale inevitably divorces customer reality from the ambitions of a faceless organisation. Cocker ruminates on the challenge. "I think that at our kind of scale there clearly is always a risk of being faceless – which we have to manage." This has to be done by remaining committed to giv- ing workers the time and scope to fully resolve mistakes and customer concerns, he says. It is a tall order in an environment with "prescriptive" regulation and political scrutiny, but Cocker is firm that it is the only way to optimise service. "People do understand that companies are staffed by individuals and that individuals make mistakes from time to time," he says. "The key question is, does that company move to rectify that mistake?" While colleagues sing Cocker's praises, the leader himself is earnest as he speaks of his pride in the "pas- sion" and "collegiate way of working" displayed by Eon employees. He is modest about his nomination as a top force for transformation in the sector, saying it reflects more on the company than on him. But "part of what I hope I have achieved in my time as chief executive is to unleash some of that passion – liberating and enabling it". But what now? Cocker has already passed the baton of day to day leadership to his successor Michael Lewis – who previously headed up the Eon climate and renewables business. At the end of July, he will finally leave Lewis and the sprawling Eon team for good. The business will plough on to tackle the implica- tions of new price regulation as well as the ongoing sector challenges of smart meter deployment (Cocker won't be drawn on whether the deadline should be post- poned), innovation, consumer confidence and more. Cocker meanwhile, will go it alone. In a company release about his departure there were hints of a "portfo- lio career" in the wings. Cocker is not ready to give much more detail. "I am lucky that I can chose to do something dif- ferently," he says. "I want to take three or four or five things where I can use my skills in different areas and my ambition is that some will be for profit and some will be not-for -profit and some might be for large organisa- tions, some might be for small organisations." During our interview, Cocker has spoken excitedly about Eon's new ventures in innovative fields like smart city solu- tions, heat networks and energy storage. Does he hope to attach himself to new businesses in these areas? He is guarded. "I would expect that at least one of my activi- ties will be in energy," is all he says. But equally: "I hope to branch out too." Along with many in the energy sector, within Eon and across the wider ranks of industry leaders who have worked with Cocker over the past two-and-a-half decades, Utility Week wishes him the best of luck. "People do understand that companies are staffed by individuals and that individuals make mistakes from time to time."