Connecting our energy future – Talk Power Conference 2015

The 18th Talk Power Conference took place on June 17 at Congress Centre in London.

At this year’s annual event, EDF Energy welcomed about 200 of our energy customers and partners. Our theme this year was ‘Connecting our energy future’, where one business trend cuts through today’s political and economic uncertainty - moving to a sustainable energy future. 

Everyone in the B2B energy market – generators, suppliers and consumers are affected by the unfolding low-carbon era.  By working together we can support our customers and partners to take advantage of the new opportunities that will come. 

In this respect, I enjoyed sharing our Energy Canvas, the tool we’ve developed to help our customers engage all their stakeholders to build, in partnership with us, the most business advantageous energy strategy for their organisation. 

Thank you to those who spoke with me on the day about this, please do contact your account manager for more detail and to book a session.

Hosted by news presenter, Natasha Kaplinsky and chaired by myself, we presented a fresh approach to sharing our knowledge and that of some impressive guest speakers.  

Kicking off the day, our Chief Executive, Vincent de Rivaz was interviewed by our host about the importance of low-carbon transition, the role energy companies have to play and how EDF Energy can help support businesses with the transition. 

What was covered?
Talk Power Conference 2015 saw a variety of business leaders and energy specialists describe the landscape we operate in - why and how organisations are creating their sustainable future.

 My thanks go to our speakers who shared their insight:

•    Mark Gregory, Chief Economist at EY– using the ITEM Club report, HM Treasury's model of the UK economy, Mark gave a breakdown of the four sources of economic growth and the factors behind them. Identifying the business implications in the aftermath of the recent election and commenting that economic recovery is being fuelled by consumer spending. 

•    James Johnston, Sector Director at Fujitsu UK & Ireland – described why today’s business models are not fit for purpose for tomorrow’s marketplace and how companies can deal with uncertainty when making long-term plans.

•    Beatrice Bigois, Managing Director, Customers, EDF Energy – Beatrice shared with the audience her view on the changing energy landscape. And how EDF Energy is developing and innovating to better meet the needs of customers as requirements change along this market reform.

•    Mary Sotos, Project Manager at World Resources Institute – explained the importance of choosing and reporting low carbon energy consumption. Giving our audience a global perspective to the challenge and how businesses can prepare for the new reporting standards. 

•    Graham Lindsay, Group Director, Responsible Business at Lloyds Banking Group – highlighted the value of purpose-driven business and how companies can engage their boards to make sustainability part of their long-term business strategy.

•    Alan Edwards, Senior Purchasing Manager at Jaguar Land Rover – spoke about how JLR has made a conscious choice to work in partnership with suppliers to add value to their business that cannot be achieved by transactional purchasing alone. He detailed their improved energy performance delivered with the support of EDF Energy.

Human and digital engagement – hand-in-hand
We provided all our attendees with an iPad for the day and encouraged them to ask our panel of expert speakers questions, take notes and interact with a variety of surveys. 

We offered attendees on the day the chance to win two iPad Minis by taking part in these surveys – I’m pleased to announce that one of our winners was Tom Lee from Anglian Water, who was randomly selected in the prize draw. Congratulations! 

One of the results of the survey saw 69% of delegates say that they attended the event to gen up on business and energy issues relevant to businesses.  Personally, I was delighted to see that 11.5% said they were there to show how much they love EDF Energy!

Over 76% claimed ‘opportunities exploration’ best described how their organisation is likely to respond to energy market reforms.

I’m also pleased to report that social media on the day, through Twitter and LinkedIn reached a massive audience of over 750,000 people.

Networking and workshops
The conference also saw many of our experts network with delegates to share their knowledge and advice face-to-face. 

Our B2B Commercial Director, Rebecca Sedler and Director of Business Services, John Cockin held separate workshops with energy procurement partners and generators, respectively. I’m led to believe that both the sessions were very lively and enjoyed by all.

I’d like to thank those who attended this year’s conference – it was a pleasure to meet and speak to you all.

We’d love to see you at another Talk Power event.