Reflections on a career in Energy

At Brokers  conference of investors I attended earlier in the week, in my speech I  took a more reflective stance than normal and looked back at a career of nearly 25 years in the Energy Industry. I first considered it as an industry back in 1988 when I was offered a secondment to the old Department of Energy. A lot of change has happened over those 25 years and if privatisation was the birth of the industry Then I believe there have been four phases in its life so far. 

1.  A blissful and happy childhood from 1990 to 1994 mainly marked by a search for identity and the beginnings  of a more commercial approach to life.

2. A troubled teenage existence. It started with a vengeance on 14 December 1994 with the hostile Trafalgar House bid for Northern Electric. The next ten years saw every variety of corporate transaction with some assets changing hands on a regular basis. As well as M & A hormones running wild this era also saw competition emerge in all parts of the energy supply industry and network price regulation settled down.

3. At some point in the mid 2000s the industry started to resemble a young adult with new pressures and responsibilities. I named four; decarbonisation, affordability, security of supply and economic head winds. These combined to bring the industry crashing back into the political spotlight and it was not a comfortable place to be.

4. This pressure lead to the inevitable mid life crisis and we seem to be stuck in this mode. Some of the features of that crisis include a lack of political philosophy underpinning the industry and the direction of policy, a stasis as far as building generation plant is concerned, the lack of an honest debate about energy prices and a breakdown in trust between customers and suppliers and also between investors and companies on one hand and politicians and regulators on the other.

This is a sad state of affairs because energy is the lifeblood of a modern economy and the current mid life crisis could have serious consequences if it continues for much longer.

So I guess I was both more reflective and more pessimistic than usual.