Why we need joined-up Government

The omission of energy efficiency from the Government’s Energy Security Strategy illustrates the lack of joined-up Government, believes Mervyn Pilley

In a recent ESTA newsletter, I found myself declaring to our members that I was an angry man.

In last month’s column I stated that I was waiting for the energy strategy to be delivered by the Government and based on various rumours it seemed likely that energy efficiency was not going to get much of a look in compared with all of the ‘big ticket’ transition solutions. In the end my forecast came true. That’s why I’m an angry man.

The clue to the intent of the strategy was in the title – the Energy Security Strategy as opposed to just the energy strategy. For me, the real frustration is that energy efficiency is not regarded as a supply, and therefore a security, issue. The key thing is the concept of energy efficiency being the first fuel which does make energy efficiency a supply issue. What makes things so much worse, at least as far as I am concerned, is that energy efficiency uses well tried, existing solutions which, especially when blended with behaviour change (a blatant plug for our EnCO programme – www.energyconsciousorganisation.org.uk), gives far greater value for money. Money has to be key because in the absence of any detail in the strategy about how much is going to be funded by the taxpayer then the availability of private sector investment for major cost items such as nuclear power stations is going to be critical.

One thing that certainly did not help my anger was the rumour circulating that Number 10 was actually briefing against BEIS on the reason energy efficiency did not feature in the strategy. I don’t know if that is true – it is really hard to make sense of interaction between different parts of Government – but to combat climate change and reach our net zero targets we have never needed joined up Government more than we need it now. The issuing of strategy documents is much favoured by this Government but every time the detail is missing, and I am a great believer in the premise that the devil is in the detail.

The Treasury still seems to believe that the private sector is going to have to find the vast majority of the money needed. While I continually hear that there is plenty of money out there waiting to be invested, I am not at all sure whether there is enough collaboration in the finance sector to enable sufficient resources to be channelled into the required solutions fast enough. It is in many ways understandable that the Treasury is citing a lack of funds due to all of the other demands on its resources. Business costs are going to continue to rise which in turn will mean increasing prices which again in turn will mean inflation will continue increasing. It is especially ironic to me that at the moment one of the extra costs making businesses reassess their outgoings, especially membership subscriptions, are energy costs. Therefore, an energy efficiency trade association is struggling with member renewals and recruitment due to high energy costs!

Changing the subject to something completely different, by the time you read this column I will have reached another significant birthday. My reason for mentioning this in this column is my belief that ageism is one of the worst forms of discrimination in the jobs market. It never seems to get the same coverage that other forms of discrimination seem to attract. The pandemic has not helped of course with many taking early retirement. My concern is that the workforce is at risk of losing years and years of experience. Experience that we need when so many sectors are losing the qualified experienced workers that they need both to regenerate the sector and also to provide the mentoring required for new entrants coming into the sector.

It is difficult for a trade association to influence sectors in terms of the age of its workforce, but we are keen to both support new graduate entrants and also not lose the highly qualified older workforce, retired or not. Graduates are of special interest to us, and we are talking to members and a number of universities around mentoring schemes. As far as the older end of the spectrum is concerned a faculty of experts is in the offing.

Our 40th anniversary continues, and we are currently putting together our Energy efficiency yearbook which will also encompass our updated energy efficiency manifesto. We are keen to attract thought leadership articles along with advertising and potential sponsorship. If this is of interest to any reader, please drop me a line at mervyn@estaenergy.org.uk.

Despite my earlier comment about costs if you are interested in joining us in the fight to get energy efficiency the recognition it deserves then please drop me a line. As I mentioned in my last column there has never been a more relevant time to join ESTA and there are deals to be done to soften the blow of membership fees. I am happy to have a discussion about what we can do for you.

• Mervyn Pilley is executive director of ESTA (Energy Services and Technology Association)