Heat as a soap opera

The Archers is apparently the world’s longest-running drama, although I’ve never managed to get past the theme tune (which is a cracker, mind).

But its origins lay in short-term propaganda, as an effort to influence the post-war farming community to adopt more up-to-date agricultural practices.

The idea has been picked up in a couple of recent conversations about decarbonisation of heat, one of the strands of our Countdown to COP coverage. There has been more than one suggestion that it would help to raise the profile of the topic if it cropped up occasionally in EastEnders or Coronation Street.

Whether this suggestion prompts you to nod or shake your head probably indicates which side you take in a wider debate on consumer engagement around net zero:

In the green corner, are those who insist consumer buy-in is essential for all areas of the transition and that individuals should be given agency in tackling climate change. One of those taking this viewpoint is Octopus Energy chief executive Greg Jackson, who told a Utility Week conference recently: “You start talking boilers around the dinner table, you’ll immediately find people talking about the problems they’ve had with gas boilers, how much insurance they have to pay – people are hugely engaged around the topic.”

In the equally green corner, are the voices warning against information overload. They advocate for focussing efforts on making the transition so rewarding to the customer, and the process so painless, that choice is rendered irrelevant. They insist going green should be the only option.

At a recent roundtable hosted by Utility Week, one senior figure at an energy retailer argued for mandating change in areas like decarbonisation of heat, stressing that this had proved far more effective than customer engagement in examples as diverse as wearing seat belts and organ donation.

They added: “The fastest way to get things done is to assume that customers won’t change, set the default in the way you want it and educate the customers so they don’t go against it.

“It’s really about environmental by default so that the customer doesn’t have to choose but they can if they want.”

Another industry leader concurred: “There are a small group of people out there who will get excited by decarbonisation of heat but the majority won’t. We have to get away from the old-fashioned idea of consumer engagement. Make it easy for them. Make it the default. Make it so, why wouldn’t you pick that.”

However, another CEO said pointedly that: “We’re not China. We don’t dictate. People want to feel they have a role in stopping climate change.”

I realise I am at risk of manufacturing a divide here, so I should stress that the goals of both these archetypes are the same – to encourage consumers to adopt greener ways of living. It just depends whether you consider education or engagement to be the primary method to achieve this.

Either way, it wouldn’t hurt for the Queen Vic to get a heat pump or for Emmerdale to be one of the first hydrogen villages.

Or perhaps it warrants a new show in itself – “And now on Radio 4, an everyday story of hybrid boiler folk. Pam, pah, pum, pah, pum, pah, pah…..”