The collapse of energy broker Utilitywise has raised a lot of questions regarding consumer confidence in intermediaries.

That’s the verdict from Pete Fear, Senior Account Manager at EDF Energy, who spoke to ELN Editor Sumit Bose at this year’s Energy Live Consultancy Conference (ELCC) at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.

As hundreds of consultants and brokers gathered to network, build knowledge and find ways to better cater for their customers, many of the conversations in the room focused on the issue of uncertainty, with some suggesting the company’s demise had significantly contributed to volatility.

Mr Fear said EDF was not immune to uncertainty and noted the importance of working with customers and intermediaries to provide the right products and services to deal with unpredictability.

He agreed that Utilitywise going into administration had caused a big shockwave and added it was a disappointing moment for the industry and the intermediary market, having ‘unfairly marred’ a number of reputable and professional intermediaries.

He said: “This premise of remuneration for intermediaries and the structure and the timing of that, I think is a very important discussion to have and I think that EDF and all the other suppliers have a role to play, consistently, in ensuring remuneration is fair, it’s appropriate and it’s proportionate to services that are being delivered.

“Above all of that, transparency I think is key and I think if we’d had some of those things we wouldn’t have arrived at this situation.”