What a week! Footsore and notebooks bursting, the Utility Week team headed back from Birmingham’s NEC last week in celebratory mood after the successful launch of Utility Week Live.
Building on the long-standing success of the IWEX exhibition for the water sector, we launched Utility Week Live, incorporating IWEX, to cater to the changing needs of the UK’s energy retail and distribution, and water sectors.
We know how many demands there are on your time, and we wanted to make sure that every minute spent at Utility Week Live was worth your while. As well as all the exhibitors you’d expect, and a chance to meet your customers at our sister show Sustainability Live, Utility Week Live was packed with content across three free seminar theatres on the show floor and the accompanying Keynote conference.
The seminars, covering energy, water and pan-utility issues from the technical to the strategic, were a roaring success. Our overview of the new totex regime in the water industry was standing room only, and the lively debate on fracking bought its pan-utility implications firmly to front-of-mind.
The industry’s biggest issues were on the agenda in the Keynote conference, which tackled the over-arching themes of change, trust and resilience over a three-day programme. Hosted by BBC Radio 4’s Simon Jack, the thought-provoking programme explored different models for leadership and innovation, the challenges of rebuilding trust, and new approaches to tackling increasing incidences of extreme weather.
Speakers from outside the industry inspired the audiences, with notable presentations from Dunnhumby chief executive Simon Hay and former Burger King chief executive Barry Gibbons.
It was an amazing week – and we’re already hard at work planning next year’s show. See you there! EB
Keynote conflicts
As the content at the Utility Week Live Keynote conference unfolded, it became clear that utility leaders are overshadowed by clouds of converging and opposing forces which mean decisions are being made in murky and uncertain light.
Alienation v connection: As big businesses across sectors struggle to assimilate the importance of an astonishing lack of public confidence in their contributions to society, they are also being told that success in the future will be predicated on more interaction with customers.
Uncertainty v ambition: Leaders must consciously assume a winning mindset to overcome sector challenges and increase competitiveness, but the shifting pressures of a changing political landscape mean they focus on reactive strategies.
Consumer v voter: Utilities must rebuild trust to build the business models of the future and legitimise their investment strategies. But consumers are also voters and, thanks to toxic campaign messaging from political parties, they often develop a “schizophrenic” position on the trustworthiness of utilities, making their expectations difficult to measure or manage.
Innovation v regulation: Innovation is essential to progress. New entrants are disrupting the market and incumbents have to answer by finding ways to embrace faster-paced technology and business model development. But a “parent-child” relationship with the regulator locks so-called innovation inside the confines of continuous improvement and sets predefined outcomes, ultimately eliminating the potential disruptive innovation.
A pre-election temperature test at Utility Week Live
The spectre of radical changes to the energy industry and, to a lesser extent, the water industry are potentially only days away.
As such, you may have expected an air of nervous apprehension to loom over stands at Utility Week Live. After all, the show might have represented the last hurrah for leaders of the incumbent “old regime”, before the comfortable “way we do things around here” is swept away by a new government and replaced with a fresh set of parameters and rules.
Among delegates, exhibitors, visitors and those giving keynote addresses however, the view was that, after the price determinations, the regulated utilities at least have little to fear. For the energy companies of course, and the big six in particular, things are very different.
There is some wariness of Labour – the only party to firmly set its sights on shaking up the energy and water sectors – but the view is that Ed Miliband would be foolish to stick his nose in and change things. It would win him few fans, especially as the companies recover from bruising price reviews.
For the Tories and Lib Dems, there is little more than apathy. The assumption is that if the coalition partners return, things will continue largely as they are.
But there was one voice at the event that sounded a note of caution. “It is not a case of keeping the status quo,” he said. “Change is happening – the parties will just egg each other on driving change – it is just the pace of change that will differ.”
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