Editor’s letter: the only certainty is it’s an uncertain world

Utilities are nervously anticipating the general election, but whichever way the polls fall, uncertainty will continue to prevail, says Jane Gray

It’s going to be a nail-biting week for utilities. Odds are still on for an easy Tory victory in 8 June’s general election, but after the twists and turns in national and international affairs which the past 12 months have thrown at us, bets are being placed with caution.

Assuming the Conservatives do resume power, doubts still niggle in the minds of many industry leaders as to what their administration, targeted at appeasing the just about managing and focused on extracting the UK from the European Union, will bring for utilities.

Business leaders have repeatedly complained that this environment of uncertainty puts a stymie on innovation, unnerves investors and disrupts business planning. Yet even as speakers at Utility Week Live last week rolled out well-polished requests for stable policy and regulation, they also acknowledged that uncertainty is now the inescapable reality of a transforming world.

Despite significant effort being poured into demonstration schemes and simulations, there’s very little clarity yet as to what the real impact of decentralising energy, electric vehicles and energy storage may be in five to ten years’ time. And then there are left-field technologies, like blockchain, which might well rocket from relative obscurity to reconfigure our understanding of utility-customer interactions.

Add the possible impact of radical shifts in climate to the mix, and the human desire to predict the future is quickly exposed as futile. Rather than be cowed be this daunting admission, however, senior speakers offered some sage advice on how firms can respond:

1.    Don’t hold on to the way things were yesterday. Keep moving forward and don’t waste time bemoaning changes which cause your business trouble – be agile and adapt.

2.    Understand your purpose. Have a clear and concise organisational strategy that plays to the expertise and skills held by employees and which defines a clear view of your position in an ecosystem of organisations and individuals.

3.    Get customers on board. Customers now have an unprecedented and increasing stake in the way energy and water are generated, managed, and delivered. Companies must give up, once and for all, on trying to tell customers what they need or want from their utilities infrastructure and services and allow consumer “pull” to guide the reinvention of their businesses

It’s all easier said than done. But companies that want to remain relevant must take these lessons on board or discover that Jeremy Corbyn is not the only threat to their continuity.