Dhara’s speech to Energy UK’s Annual Conference 2025:
It’s a pleasure to welcome you all to this year’s Energy UK Conference – the stand-out event of our year and a chance for our industry to come together, reflect on the present and look forward to the future.
I’m delighted that we have the Secretary of State Ed Miliband, the Shadow Secretary of State Claire Coutinho and the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey speaking later today.
We’ll also hear from Jonathan Brearley, Fintan Slye, Isabell Popellbaum and many other experts debating and discussing the big issues facing our sector.
I’d like to start with thanks to our sponsors
- LCP Delta
- Gardiner and Theobald
- Engage Consulting
- Arqiva
- FYLD
- Tyler Hill Consulting
- Business Modelling Applications
- Softwire
A special thank you also to E.ON Next for being our headline sponsor this year, and Chris Norbury, its CEO will be speaking this morning too. E.ON Next is known for its effort to improve energy outcomes for customers and communities across Great Britain. Yesterday I was reflecting on some of the big moments of 2025. For so many of us, and for our children, the Lionesses Euro 2025 win is up there.
E.ON backed the winners this year, working with England Football and the Lionesses to help local, grassroots girls football teams. These clubs have saved up to 25% on energy bills – saving energy, slashing bills and reinvesting in the things that matter.
If that’s not a great example of how energy can help to improve our country, then I don’t know what is.
One year
Just under a year ago I had the honour of taking over from Emma Pinchbeck as Chief Executive. Emma set a very high standard for Energy UK, and my aim this year has been to build on the strong foundation she left.
It’s also been just over a year since our last Conference.
If a week is a long time in politics, you could say that a year can change everything.
Last September, hot off the heels of the General Election that saw the Labour Party sweep to a landslide win, I don’t think any of us could have foreseen what the following twelve months might hold for our industry.
The Government took office promising to deliver a step change in the transition to clean power, and it’s only right to recognise the significant progress made in one year – amongst other things, removing the de facto ban on onshore wind; establishing GB Energy; a final investment decision on Sizewell C; essential and overdue moves to reform the planning system and tackle the connections queue; strengthening the Contracts for Difference scheme; and the support for emerging technologies like carbon capture.
It’s an impressive list. Our industry has long called for ambition, we know that it is essential if we are to deliver a transformation of the scale we face.
However, my team and I wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t play our time-honoured role as a ‘critical friend’ to Government.
There remains an equally lengthy to-do list, and the clock is ticking.
From rethinking regulation of our sector to delivering on reformed national pricing, setting out the details for the Warm Homes Plan, making progress on Strategic Energy Spatial Planning, delivering a successful CFD round in AR7, progressing the hydrogen and CCUS pathways, to supporting a retail energy market fit for clean power. I also hope that by this time next year we’ll have a great story to tell on progress when it comes to driving up demand for electrification and driving down bills for customers.
Politics
The debate around the energy transition continues to dominate the political and media cycle. It is increasingly polarised and complex, shaped by divergent views on cost, equity, and the pace of decarbonisation. I think that it is a conversation we need to have.
The clean power transition touches every household and every business and it will shape the future of our economy. The UK’s energy transition has long been viewed as a cornerstone of our response to climate change, economic renewal, and energy security.
But in recent months, the debate has become increasingly fractious and politically charged. Accountability and scrutiny are crucial. It is right to question how fast we should move, who should pay, and how we manage the transition fairly.
This should not distract from the long-term rationale for investing in clean power and decarbonisation.
Ripping up long-standing legislation that has already enabled billions of investments into this country -or signalling that a future UK Government might renege on legally binding financial contracts does nothing to give business the confidence that it needs to invest in this country’s future.
This is a sentiment echoed by business groups representing companies that operate right across the UK economy.
Inaction on clean energy does not mean standing still – it means falling behind.
Without continued and deliberate investment in clean power, the UK risks increasing its dependence on volatile global fossil fuel markets, leaving households and businesses more exposed to price shocks beyond our control.
We also risk missing our legally binding climate targets. Net Zero by 2050 is not just an ambition — it is a framework backed by law, science, and international agreement. Delays now will only make future action more expensive and disruptive.
Renewable energy was responsible for 54.5% of our generation in April, May and June. Great Britain has run on 100% clean power for a record 87 hours so far this year.
That would have been dismissed as impossible in the past. Our achievements so far give us cause for great optimism about the future. The next five years have to be about crowding in investment and delivering for future generations.
Investment
The rate of investment in clean power across the world’s emerging superpowers demonstrates that the energy transition remains the economic opportunity of the 21st century. The message from the energy industry to all politicians engaged in the debate about clean power is clear.
Businesses want consistency, pragmatism, and leadership, grounded in the understanding that clean power is not just a climate solution, but an economic and strategic one as well.
The transition will continue to spark debate. That is a sign of a healthy democracy. Through it all, we must keep sight of the bigger picture — and the cost of inaction.
It is crucial that the energy industry, Government and other politicians are honest with the public about the often-difficult challenges and choices involved in delivering a transformation of this scale…and also about what the alternative might be.
At Energy UK we represent the whole sector, all the different sources and technologies, the established and the emerging, the supply and the demand side.
And they all have a role to play.
With a job this big you need all the tools in the box.
The energy transition is a huge endeavour. It’s big, it’s difficult and it’s disruptive. The economic climate has added to the challenges and bills remain stubbornly high.
The facts haven’t changed. Energy security is national security.
Powering our homes, businesses and economy with our own clean energy is the path to assuring ourselves of some security in an uncertain world.
In the long term, clean power will lead to stable bills, and deliver growth, prosperity and jobs right across the country.
All of us in this room, watching online, are navigating the energy transition at one of its trickiest points. Growing constraint costs and the multiple issues with the connections queue for both supply and for demand arise because progress and investment in one part of the energy system has outpaced another.
It would be perverse to decide the best response is to stop innovating, to stop evolving, and to stop improving.
Bills
We cannot ignore that bills have been too high for too long – there are record levels of household customer debt, and energy costs are often cited at the number one concern of businesses.
Customers cannot be expected to shrug off persistently high bills because of benefits some years away. The widespread concern about bills is of course closely linked with public perception and the discussion about how we fairly pay for the cost of the transition.
Our industry delivers an essential service. Our industry is making significant, essential investments in this country. And we need an honest conversation about energy bills.
You’ll have seen Energy UK urging Government to take action to Bring Down Bills. Today we’ve launched a scorecard to measure how much progress Government is making.
There is a big opportunity ahead for the Government with the autumn budget – both delivering on the promise of the Warm Homes Plan and taking action to reduce energy bills should be top of their to do list.
Enduring high bills means the demand for help and support has never been higher. I’m proud of how our energy supplier members have responded to this – and will again this winter. But there is no substitute to properly targeted support for those who need it most.
People and the Future
One of the great strengths of our sector is our people. And that includes the fantastic team at Energy UK, working with me, Rich, Juliette and Adam to ensure that we deliver as the voice of the energy industry, covering a vast and ever-evolving sector.
A trade association is only as strong as its membership and on that basis Energy UK has the strongest of foundations.
I am very proud to represent you all and so grateful for the support, advice and co-operation we get from all of you – my colleagues and I could not do our job without it.
This year we have continued to grow as well, welcoming six new heat network members as we look to focus on an area that will play an increasingly prominent role.
Investing in people is just as crucial as investing in projects. When looking to the future, you need to attract talent from the widest possible pool through an industry that is inclusive for all and offers the potential of an exciting and fulfilling career for ambitious young people making their way.
So, Energy UK remains exceptionally proud of the Young Energy Professionals Forum which continues to go from strength to strength and who once again feature prominently in today’s programme. Their awards ceremony takes place next month and is always one of the highlights of the year – and always leaves me feeling optimistic for the future.
We also continue to champion the importance of promoting EDI. Our EDI commitment is not a passing fad subject to the political climate; it is fundamental belief underpinning our work and it will remain so.
On the subject of inclusion, people joining online will note the auto captions, and in the room I’d like to thank our sign language interpreters Anne-Marie and David who will be with us all day too.
All that remains is for me to thank you all for attending today. I very much hope you all find the day thought-provoking, stimulating and above all enjoyable.