Iain Conn holds reception in Brussels

Iain Conn talks about 'The Customer and the Changing Energy Landscape' and setting the EU on the right path for the energy systems of the future.

On his first visit to Brussels since becoming CEO of Centrica, Iain met a group of stakeholders and set out his views on the challenges for European energy markets and the major changes in the way customers are re-shaping the demand function for energy. The upcoming legislative initiatives on the power market design and energy efficiency are key milestones, which – if developed correctly – will be essential to building a framework that allows the EU energy sector to work with consumers and deliver affordable, clean and secure energy.

Some key points in Iain’s speech:

• On the EU Referendum: while Iain cannot and would not tell Centrica’s 30,000 UK employees or 11.4 million UK customers how to vote, he is personally strongly in favour of the UK remaining in the EU especially because European prices are the price setting mechanism for UK imports of energy, and for the greater influence the UK enjoys in trade and geo-strategy by being part of the EU.
• On EU policy: regulation must enable innovation and the expansion of more sophisticated offers while dealing with concerns over data privacy, and the focus should be on consistency of policy: market participants can cope with complexity as long as it is predictable.

 

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