UK Government Outlines Future Role of Utilities

 

Jun 17 - Datamonitor

The UK government has published a new paper on the responsibilities of regional utilities, in which it has asserted that the future role of household energy suppliers could be as much about helping consumers to cut energy use and carbon emissions as about supplying energy.

The new paper "Household Energy Supplier Obligation from 2011: A Call for Evidence," outlines the potential role of energy companies in helping to boost energy efficiency in UK homes until 2020, and cutting household emissions by up to 10%. Emissions from homes account for over a quarter of the UK's total emissions.

The supplier obligation for the period after 2011 could save up to four million tonnes of carbon by 2020, which could equate to more than five million cavity wall insulations and nearly two million installations of microgeneration such as solar water heating, the government said.

UK environment and climate change minister Ian Pearson said: "Tackling the effect of their customers' energy use on climate change must become a key part of the business of energy suppliers. The shape of energy companies in the future could be radically different from today - as their focus shifts from selling more and more energy to playing a central role in helping people cut their energy use and lead greener lives."

"We want to see a shift from selling units of energy to increasingly providing energy services, such as energy efficient lighting or solar water heating," Mr Pearson continued.

The energy white paper, published in May 2007, emphasized the government's commitment to an obligation on energy suppliers to work with customers to improve energy efficiency up to 2020 that will help deliver carbon savings of three to four million tonnes of carbon, helping the UK stay on course for its goal of a 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.