Celebrating great service and innovation
We celebrated the consultant industry at the end of June in a great night that showcased the innovation and collaboration we share, and how this plays a key part in ultimately providing the best service for all our customers.
There are now more than 1,000 consultant businesses in the market and they play a vital role in encouraging competition and providing choice for customers.
Historically consultants have not always been acknowledged for the great work that many of them do. This is why we conceived the idea of TELCAs with Energy Live News and have been a key supporter since this annual event’s inception three years ago. The awards acknowledge and reward best practice and outstanding customer service in the industry.
New solutions in a changing market
Innovation in the energy sector is key, as consumers, suppliers and governments all struggle with the trilemma of affordability, sustainability and security of supply. The market is ever changing to adapt and find new ways to deliver what consumers need.
As well as working with consultants to deliver new products and services, we are also evolving and expanding our own products and services.
You may have read in one of Wayne Mitchell’s earlier blogs that we have acquired the specialist energy management company RUMM. Using their innovative technology, we believe we can help save British industry save up to £4 billion on their annual energy bills.
We are also planning to combine RUMM’s sophisticated energy data analysis with the risk management skills of our award-winning Optimisation Desk, in a ground-breaking move to offer customers new ways to manage consumption and respond to market opportunities. We will be letting you know more about this very shortly.
Demand-side response opportunities
Demand-side response is going to play an increasing role in helping National Grid balance supply and demand. So we are also working with customers and consultants to navigate a way through the myriad complexities surrounding the schemes available, and how to discern which is most suitable for a particular business.
In the energy sector, a ‘one size fits all’ approach no longer applies. Our focus is very much about working in partnership to devise the best solutions, often via bespoke arrangements.
We see our relationship with consultants as vital to this approach, as they can help to bring our new and more sophisticated products and services to a wider audience, often via pooling smaller customers together into a larger group.
Raising the bar
Supporting ever-increasing standards of service is another key aim. After all, as energy continues to be a significant cost to businesses, expectations will rightly increase and customers will want to become more involved in the process of managing what’s becoming a more expensive resource.
A key part of our response is to provide intelligent solutions and support to help customers use less of our core product, which we appreciate is unique among many business models.
The best kilowatt is the one you don’t use
We see the appeal of this simple statement increasing as market complexity gathers pace, with levels of taxation set to rise dramatically.
We have a new Energy Minister and an ambition from George Osborne to curtail the full burden of environmental taxation. But uncertainty in the market is likely to continue for many years to come.
So our aim is to work with customers and consultants to steer the best path through all the changes and complexity, and to deliver energy solutions that help consumers buy and manage energy as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible.
TELCAs provided a great opportunity to see that process in action. So congratulations to all those who won (see here for more details). And here’s to another year of great achievements and new developments to celebrate come June 2016.
Dave Reed is the Sales Director (I&C) at RWE npower.
This is a sponsored article.
