Meet the Innovators: George Walters, Utilita

Utilita’s director of new products, George Walters, discusses the importance of consumer-facing innovation and why he believes suppliers who aren’t creating technology that enable customers to understand and tweak their energy usage will lose out.

What is the most significant way that today’s utilities sector differs from the one you first joined?

During the 15 years since I joined the energy industry, the two main changes would be the increase of renewable generation and the availability of consumers’ consumption data via smart meters.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your time in utilities?

The pace of change in energy transition has to be the biggest challenge. Adoption of technology and the frameworks to allow this to advance has been very slow. Particularly the Energy Price Cap has made investment in these areas very difficult on the retail side and prevented real customer benefit to be delivered.

What is your golden rule for overcoming challenges at work generally?

Everything we do at Utilita is underpinned by our mantra – ‘do the right thing for the customer’. I really enjoy challenges, as they enable to flex my innovative mind.

How would you describe your creative process in three words?

Good question. Customer. Commercial. Scalability.

What do you think is the key to creating the conditions for innovation within the utilities sector?

Apart from renewable generation, the energy industry has seen very little innovation in the last few decades. The two main factors are, firstly, understanding the need or demand for innovation and, secondly, the ability to innovate, and with that often comes investment to make the innovation a reality. The fear is that the current fuel crisis will dampen innovation, as energy companies’ margins are squeezed.

Did you learn anything new about collaborating or innovating as a team or business during the pandemic?

For our team it was all about trying to simulate that open door office environment, but via a digital system. As innovators, often our ideation process needs other people in the mix, which is hard to achieve when the team is working from home.

Which other industry do you feel that utilities can learn most from when creating the conditions for innovation?

I have taken a keen interest in banking and fintech when it comes to innovation – there’s been some tremendous strides in revolutionising the way we bank.

Is there a standout innovation or collaboration project that you’ve worked on during your time in utilities – what made it special?

Two of Utilita’s latest innovations are by far my biggest successes to date – ‘Smart Score’ and ‘My Energy’.

Both products have been designed to enable households to cut their energy wastage, which is around 20% of their annual bill. For the first time, we have given every customer with an active smart meter the ability to cut their energy spend by as much as 19% each year, with Smart Score.

‘My Energy’ is similar, but give customers a monthly report, so they can track their behaviours and make changes to see how they can save.

Is there a standout innovation or collaboration project that you wish you’d had the chance to work on during your time in the sector?

Being involved in the deployment of renewables in the early stages of the feed-in tariff and Renewable Obligation would have been interesting, I think.

What do you think will be the defining factor in the UK hitting its net zero targets?

The decarbonisation of heat is vital and much more relevant and achievable than trying to get households to replace their heating system with one that costs twice the price.

What is the change you’d most like to see within the utilities industry?

The energy regulator’s price cap debacle must end in the interest of the consumer. Selling energy at a loss will not enable energy companies to sustain their efforts in innovations that will help the customer to cut their costs.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the utilities sector at present?

The rising price of wholesale energy is out of suppliers’ control, but the ability to help customers use less energy has never been more in our control. Any supplier who isn’t giving their customers technology that enables them to understand and tweak their energy usage, will lose out. Consumers need energy partners today, not suppliers.

What is the most significant way you think the utilities sector of ten years’ time will differ from the one we see today?

Net zero and technology advances are advancing the need for home energy generation, electric heating and flexibility through both storage and household consumption. The customer proposition to finance the mass adoption and deployment of these assets is going to be the biggest way the sector differs to today.

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