Energy is truly an essential industry, vital for almost every aspect of modern life. It underpins our economy, facilitates our work and is at the beating heart of our home lives.
We should take pride in the sizeable role the energy industry has played in decarbonising the UK economy. Collectively, we have achieved an impressive reduction in the carbon emissions associated with power generation, while the proportion of electricity from renewable sources is ever increasing and the shift towards smart networks is well under way.
Dare I say it though, this has been the easy part, even if at times if felt anything but straightforward and progressive. Because even though the scale of what we have achieved has been significant, it was in effect delivered by a relatively small number of people pulling on an equally small number of sizeable levers.
There will be a number of challenges along the way, all of which we will need to find a way around, including technology, politics, regulation, competition and finance.
There is much we still want to deliver, and our vision for the future of energy is ambitious. The chance is there for us to put the energy industry through a further transformation, working with and for the benefit of consumers at home and in business.
What is in our favour is the public demand for greater sustainability in our lives; a real and growing demand for treading more lightly on our planet. We’ve seen this with the current campaign to reduce the use of plastics around the globe – this is less a government-led ambition than a movement that has grown from the ground up, with international institutions struggling to keep up with what people are demanding.
That is a signal for the energy industry also – we cannot ignore the clamour for change. Massive change is coming across the energy industry, and for the better, for us all. There will be a number of challenges along the way, all of which we will need to find a way around, including technology, politics, regulation, competition and finance.
It needs the support and involvement of others too: local authorities, politicians, community groups, providers of technology and supply chains. But it is customers who will make the greatest contribution, and their backing is the most important one for us to win.
We need to help customers see that the energy transformation is vital, and that its benefits are far greater than the associated challenges. The whole country will profit from the new energy world, in terms of cost, lower emissions and fresh economic and social opportunities.
The challenge is plain: our housing stock is among Europe’s oldest and least energy efficient, the air quality in many of our cities is damaging and even shortening our lives, our businesses may be missing out on the competitive advantages of a smarter energy system.
That’s why we are committed to improving the energy efficiency of the UK’s housing stock and we are proud of what we have delivered under the Cert , Cesp and Eco schemes; installing more than 1.3 million measures so far to over one million properties around the UK, from the Highlands of Scotland to the South West of England.
Futhermore, to help homeowners and landlords afford investments in improving homes we’re backing the concept of green mortgages, working with partners including BNP Paribas to move from concept to large scale deployment of green finance.
Another key piece of the puzzle will be smart meters providing people with the data they need to be able to make better choices about how and when they use the energy they pay for. And that is just the start – once installed, it paves the way for other connected technologies in homes to meet lifestyle needs and a shift to a more flexible, responsive, decarbonised and decentralised system of energy. If we fail to do this and leave obsolete, outdated equipment in people’s homes and businesses, customers will miss out on this huge opportunity.
We see smart meters as the gateway to smart solutions, battery storage and ultimately, smart homes. We are already piloting a research initiative in collaboration with property developer Berkeley Homes. In the Future Energy Home we are trialling the integration of the latest smart home technologies to understand how homeowners could live a lower cost, less carbon-dependent lifestyle.
The energy industry has come a long way over the past couple of decades, and we are about to enter our greatest period of change in recent history yet. We know we need to take our customers on this journey with us so they too can experience the benefits to come.”
Click here for more about our New Deal for Utilities campaign.