18 July Indepen Forum- Refer, appeal or grin and bear it?

The Indepen Forum

in association with Berkeley Research Group

Refer , appeal or grin and bear it? Comparing the “ appeal ” processes in infrastructure ; are the differences justified?

Tuesday 18 July 2023

›Berkeley Research Group’s office, 8 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 8AP 6pm - 9pm

REFER, APPEAL OR GRIN AND BEAR IT? COMPARING THE “APPEAL” PROCESSES IN INFRASTRUCTURE; ARE THE DIFFERENCES JUSTIFIED?

The discussion will consider the arrangements whereby infrastructure and utility service providers can “appeal” decisions by their regulator. “Appeals” are heard by the CMA and are additional to the right of any person to seek judicial review of a decision made by a public authority. Various matters can be appealed: our discussion will focus on those relating to price controls as these are likely to be the most significant.

The regulators and services where appeals are possible and the number of appeals (CMA website) since 2008 are as follows.

process was established and any changes that have been made since. There are salient differences in terms of: who can appeal –affected parties, as in energy or the regulated business only as in water; and the nature of the “appeal” - most often noted in the difference between water, rail and ATC, where the CMA has to redo the whole determination and energy, telecoms, post and payment systems where the parties appeal on specific grounds

Questions about the appeal processes that we might discuss include the following

Do we need a separate, convoluted process for appealing regulator decisions?

If we do

– Who should have the right to appeal?

– What is the appeal process intended to achieve? Does it succeed?

Other than those of lawyers and consultants, whose interests does it serve? How does it deal with the interests of future customers?

– Are the processes proportionate? Are differences in process justified by the circumstances of the sectors or of their customers?

– Should the CMA set principles and precedents?

Each sector has its own process, reflecting the circumstances of the sector when the

Should we have redeterminations or appeals on specific grounds?

Colm Gibson, Managing Director, Berkeley Research Group

Colm Gibson is a Managing Director in BRG’s London Office, heading up BRG’s Economic Regulation practice for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has over 35 years’ experience in energy, water and other regulated industries, with over 25 years at senior management level.

Colm is an expert on competition and regulation matters, including market design, price controls, tariffs and incentive design. He specialises in producing evidence and reports to influence external stakeholders. Colm and his team are frequently engaged to support companies and regulators in price control negotiations, having worked on over 20 price controls in a range of UK and EU jurisdictions. He also specialises in assisting companies to prepare to challenge regulatory decisions, having successfully appealed a range of UK price controls in the gas and water sectors.

Colm is quoted regularly as an expert in major newspapers and journals and has written and contributed to a number of textbooks and other publications.

CHAIR SPEAKER

Thea Hutchinson, Director of Company Performance and Price Review, Ofwat

Thea is the Director for Outcomes in the PR24 Price Review at Ofwat. In this role, she is responsible for the financial and reputational incentives for water companies to stretch their service levels in the contracts with their customers. Prior to joining Ofwat, Thea worked across the aviation, water, energy and financial sectors, leading teams of economists in a variety of senior positions in private companies, consultancy, and economic regulators. Her previous roles include being the Director of Economic Regulation and Chief Economist at NATS, the Regulatory Affairs Manager at easyJet, Senior Economist at Ofgem and Senior Consultant at CEPA. Thea is particularly interested in the interplay between economic theory and reality.

SPEAKER

Harold Hutchinson, Managing Director, CoHead of Energy, Investec

Harold spent his early career in academia as a Lecturer in Economics at Hertford College, University of Oxford, and at the University of St. Andrews, He subsequently worked in Research at various Investment banks in the UK as Head of Energy and Utilities, including Collins Stewart, ING, and Macquarie. He has now been at Investec for over 10 years, 7 of which as Head of UK Research. Currently he is Co-Head of Energy in the Listed Client Group.  He is also a Director of the Regulatory Policy Institute, Oxford, an educational charity dedicated to the promotion of regulatory and market research for the public benefit.

SPEAKER

Martin Young, Senior Analyst - Energy, Utilities, Renewables, and Waste Equity Research, Investec

Martin joined Investec in February 2019 to cover the Utilities sector, a space in which he has been involved for over 25 years. After qualifying as a an ACA with Ernst & Young, he spent 20 years as an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Citi, Lehman Brothers, Nomura and the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), heading the team at Nomura. After leaving RBC he joined Ofgem, the GB energy regulator, to head up Investor Relations, before returning to the sell-side with Investec. Martin was rated #1 for UK Energy and Utilities in both the 2021 and 2022 Institutional Investor (II) surveys. He holds an BA (Hons) degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University.

SPEAKER

Natura Gracia, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Partner, Linklaters

Natura is a competition and regulatory partner at Linklaters. She has over 15 years of experience advising clients on all aspects of UK and EU competition law as well as specialising in EU state aid, UK subsidies, utilities regulation and public procurement. She has represented a number of water and energy networks in relation to price control processes, having been involved in Ofwat’s PR09, PR14, PR19 and PR24, as well as Ofgem’s RIIO-2 (for gas and electricity distribution) and UR’s GD23 in Northern Ireland. She has been involved in regulatory appeals before the CMA (on PR19 and RIIO-2) as well as in a number of regulatory investigations by Ofwat, Ofgem and the CAA.

AGENDA & PARTICIPANT LIST

Participant list

Chair Colm Gibson, Managing Director, Berkeley Research Group

Speakers

Thea Hutchinson, Director, Price Review, Ofwat

Natura Gracia, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Partner, Linklaters

Harold Hutchinson, Managing Director, Co-Head of Energy, Investec

Martin Young, Senior Analyst - Energy, Utilities, Renewables, and Waste Equity Research, Investec

Michelle Ashford Water Industry Commission for Scotland Chief Operating Officer

Mark Abrams Business & Development Marketing Director Sagacity

Martin Baggs Sagacity Solutions

Non-Executive Director

Ann Bishop CEG UK Power Networks Chair

Omar Clarke Sia Partners Senior Manager - Energy and Utilities

Sarah Chambers Legal Services Consumer Panel Chair

Robert Cohen Competition and Markets Authority Panel Member

Susan Davy Pennon Group

Chief Executive

Orlando Finzi M&G Investments Director, Senior Analyst

Stephen Glaister Imperial College London Professor Emeritus of Transport and Infrastructure

Jeevan Jones Ofwat Graduate Associate

Mike King Heathrow Head of regulatory economics

Karma Loveday The Water Report Editor

Sarah McMath MOSL Chief Executive

Sarah Mukherjee IEMA Chief Executive

Peter Martin Binnies Technical Director

Mike Osbourne InfraRed Capital Partners Managing Director, Asset Management

Milo Purcell Independent Advisor

Adrian Rees Alium Blue Partner

Mary Reynolds Castle Water Commercial Director

Darren Rice

Anglian Water Regulation Director

Bridget Rosewell UK Infrastructure Bank

Non-Executive Director

Mathilde Rouhi Royal London Asset Management ESG Specialist

Basil Scarsella UK Power Networks

Chief Executive

Richard Somerville Northumbrian Water General Counsel and Company Secretary

Wendy Staden AliumBlue Partner

Daniel Storey NATS Director, Regulation

Liv Walton Affinity Water Director of Regulation & Strategy

Marie Whaley Metis (Int) Limited Director

Christopher Wright Castle Water Director of Regulation

Juliet Young Ofwat Chief Economist

Indepen

David Elliott Director

John Hargreaves Director

Abi Rowe Team Administrator

Laura Sweeney Associate

INDEPEN AND THE INDEPEN FORUM

Indepen

Since 1990 Indepen has been a management consultancy working with senior people in investors, regulators, companies and supply chains in infrastructure and utilities.

While our work has evolved as the sectors have changed, our main modes of operation have remained, namely helping senior clients make sure that they

devote enough time to allow them to address the strategic decisions and tradeoffs they make

inform their decision making by a combination of horizon scanning, common sense reflection and engagement with internal and external parties and organisations

keep their governance processes sharp and effective from board level downwards throughout the organisation

are able to justify and communicate their decisions in a coherent and convincing way with evidence that is soundly based.

Having been long in the game, our senior people have a length and depth of sector and institutional memory that may be unrivalled in the industries in which we work. One leading UK infrastructure business has been a client of Indepen client continuously since the mid-90s.

We complement the skills and experience of our core team with input from our associates who have themselves played senior roles in quoted and private companies and regulators, and as academics and from our partner businesses that have complementary skills and capabilities, including in artificial intelligence, machine learning and related analytics.

The Indepen Forum

The Forum provides a place where new ideas and approaches can be developed, socialised and refined. The meetings of the Forum are private but not secret: they take place under The Chatham House Rule.

Increasingly we observe that markets, business and their customers are ahead of governments and regulators in innovation and adapting to the multiple evolving challenges we are all grappling.

The Forum, and the associated series of summits we have hosted with The Water Report have a history of anticipating issues and policy developments.

The topics we have covered and the chairs and speakers who have honoured the Forum with their participation are summarised at https://indepen.uk.com/ where you can find summaries of the debates we have had.

Since 2018, Indepen and The Water Report have come together to host the Social Contract Summit, an opportunity for decision makers to explore how companies providing essential services infrastructure – water, energy, transport and communications – could provide more value to citizens, society and the environment. The agendas and speakers at the Summits can be seen at https://indepen.uk.com/the-summit/

The Forum is sponsored by a group of businesses all of which have been long term supporters. The sponsors have the opportunity to propose topics and speakers and to issue invitations to the events.

Most of the Forum debates take pace in central London but we are keen to include other locations and this year we have held events in Leeds and Edinburgh.

As well as the regular Forum events we convene and facilitate roundtables where smaller groups of interested parties can explore their thinking on a particular aspect of a Forum debate or any other issue which is central to the development of government and regulatory policy, particularly where change is needed.

We welcome ideas for Forum and round table topics. Please contact John Hargreaves or Ann Bishop john.hargreaves@indepen. uk.com and ann.bishop@indepen.uk.com.

CHAIR: Ann Bishop

›I have spent the last 37 years working in the regulated environment with boards and investors in water, energy, transport, telecoms, financial services, social housing and higher education.

I am founder and Chair of Indepen, and lead the Indepen Forum, which was established in 1995 to bring together infrastructure businesses, policy makers, regulators, investors, customer representatives, the supply chain and others to debate topical and often controversial issues which might not otherwise be considered in such a diverse environment.

I am chair of UK Power Networks’ Customer Engagement Group, established in 2019 to ensure that the DNO’s business plan for 2023-2028 reflects the needs and preferences of customers now and in the future.

Before establishing Indepen, I worked for P&O, Chase Manhattan Bank, County Bank and the strategy group of Deloitte consultancy, specialising in the financial services and retail sectors.

I have previously served as a Board Member at Leeds Beckett University and Chair of its Remuneration Committee; Deputy Chair of Opera North; an Ambassador for Wellbeing of Women, the charitable arm of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists; a member of Ofwat’s Expert Panel; a Commissioner of the London First Infrastructure Commission; and an INED at Affinity Water.

DIRECTOR: John Hargreaves

›I am an economist and have been a lecturer, a civil servant and have worked in management consultancy and in corporate finance teams. I start from the position that the questions are more important than the answer.

I’ve worked in the water, energy, telecommunications and transportation sectors and advised government departments, regulatory and competition agencies and numerous investor-owned businesses in the UK and around the world. As well as serving infrastructure clients, I led the mergers and acquisitions team at Deloitte and worked with UK government agencies on areas of public policy including education, health, and social housing.

Just now I am advising investor-owned businesses in the UK on their regulatory strategies, helping them to access new markets and services, attract investment and deliver outcomes that meet the economic, environmental and social challenges they face.

OUR TEAM

DIRECTOR: David Elliott

›I have over 30 years’ experience in the utilities sector, primarily the water industry, at all levels including 10 years as an Executive Director at Wessex Water.

More recently I worked as Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer at Wessex Water helping them migrate to a modern and agile water service provider based upon an open-system model enabling Wessex to deliver greater customer and environmental value.

I am a systems thinker, and have particular interest and experience in how markets, through the use of digital business models, can encourage better system design. One of my key areas of specialism is how natural capital can contribute to some of our societal and environmental issues today, and how customers, as prosumers can contribute to better outcomes.

I have experience with a number of start ups including founding EnTrade, an exciting online trading platform for environmental services that enables businesses to collaborate on investments to improve environmental and societal outcomes. I have also served as Non-Executive Director at Flipper, an energy auto-switching platform and Albion Water – an independent water and sewerage services provider for new housing developments.

In the innovation and research space I recently served as a Non-Executive Director of UKWIR, specialising in water industry research and innovation.

I am the founder of Business4Life, a leadership development programme involving setting up model businesses whose profits go to WaterAid.

ASSOCIATE: Laura Sweeney

›I have worked in various industries including the legal, finance, retail and charity sectors.

In addition to running my own business in the events and services industry, I have also held roles as Legal PA to a Senior Partner, Marketing Executive, Development Officer and Retail Manager.

At Indepen, I apply my background in customer experience and events management to help manage the full programme of Indepen Forum events throughout the year.

TEAM ADMINISTRATOR Abi Rowe

›I provide administrative support to Indepen directors and associates, ensuring that work is co-ordinated across the team and that internal communication is as effective as possible.

I also manage the annual Forum planning cycle, ensure the Forum database is current and relevant and contribute to the organisation of Forum and Roundtable debates.

My background is in project management, business development and customer service in client facing, commercial businesses.

ASSOCIATES

Dr Melvyn Weeks

›I am an Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Clare College and an associate of Indepen.

I have previously worked as Senior Economic Advisor to Ofgem. This work focused on the provision of advice relating to the benchmarking of costs for electricity companies. I have also provided advice to the regulator for the DPCR5, RIIO-ED1, RIIO-GD1 and RIIO-T1 price reviews. I prepared expert evidence for Ofgem in the wake of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) inquiry into a number of aspects relating to price setting during RIIO-ED1.

More recently, I have represented a gas company in providing evidence to the CMA in the area of cost assessment for RIIO-GD2, and I have worked with a distribution network operator, providing advice on a number of issues relating to RIIO-ED2 including cost assessment and flexibility markets.

I have advised Ofwat, Ofcom and other regulatory bodies on issues relating to incentive design, welfare effects of policies and econometric modelling. I have also carried out quality assurance of data and evidence on behalf of regulatory bodies – a recent example concerning the safety of smart motorways.

My key interests lie in micro-econometrics, particularly discrete choice models, modelling demand systems in empirical industrial organisation, revealed and stated preference models, model testing and evaluation, computationally intensive methods including machine learning, simulation-based inference and the bootstrap, and convergence within and across countries.

I am also adviser to the smart meter analytics platform company SMAP Energy and digital technology company Fetch.AI.

At Indepen I provide leadership and support on projects relating to markets and incentives, with a focus on statistics and econometrics.

›Bridget Rosewell is an experienced director, policy maker and economist, with a track record in advising public and private sector clients on key strategic issues. She chairs Atom Bank and the M6 Toll Company and is a non-executive for the UK Infrastructure Bank and Northumbrian Water Group. Among other roles, she has been a Commissioner for the National Infrastructure Commission, chaired DVSA, been Senior Independent Director for Network Rail and Chief Economic Adviser to the Greater London Authority. She was appointed CBE in December 2018 and is also a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Academy of Social Science and the Society of Professional Economists. She writes on finance, risk and uncertainty as well as infrastructure and modelling validation.

She has worked extensively on cities, infrastructure and finance, advising on projects in road and rail and on major property developments and regeneration. She has advised on changes to planning regulation and TfL’s finances and has appeared at planning Inquiries.

Bridget Rosewell CBE, MA, MPhil, FICE, FACSS, FSPE

2023 FORUM PROGRAMME

19 January

All systems go! Social Contract Summit https://indepen.uk.com/the-summit/

›RSA London

21 February

Penny wise - pound foolish?

Regulatory focus on squeezing network costs puts at risk getting the new networks we need to achieve Net Zero and make energy affordable and secure.

Chair:

Basil Scarsella, CEO, UK Power Networks

Speakers:

• Graham Taylor, Senior Vice President, Infrastructure Finance, Moody’s Investors

• Ben Wilson, Chief Strategy & External Affairs Officer at National Grid

• Jane Dennett-Thorpe, Deputy Director, Net Zero Strategy, Ofgem

›The Stanley Building, 7 Pancras Square, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4AG

08 March

Mind the widening gap!

How can private and public investment interact to stimulate innovation in parts of the UK with untapped potential?

Chair

• Councillor Susan Hinchcliff, Bradford Council

Speakers:

• Bridget Rosewell CBE, Non-executive Director, UK Infrastructure Bank

• Ian Smyth, CEO, Electricity North West

• Gareth Mills, Regulation and Strategic Planning Director, Northern Gas Network (first respondent)

›The Queens Hotel, Leeds

18 April

“I’d do anything for love (But I won’t do that)”

What will net zero do for customers other than cost them a lot of money?

Chair:

Johnson Cox, CEO, London Port Authority

Speakers:

• Lord Matthew Taylor, Chair of Kensa

• Piers Williamson, CEO, Housing Finance Corporation

• Louise Wilson, Joint Managing Director, Abundance

›The Stanley Building, 7 Pancras Square, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4AG

18 May

How to bake a bigger infrastructure cake without breaking too many eggs

Do we need evolution or revolution of infrastructure policy and regulation?

Chair:

• Tony Cocker, Senior Independent Director, SSE Speakers:

• Matt Bevington, Practice Director, Global Counsel

• Martin Hurst, Associate, Sustainability First

• David Black, CEO, Ofwat (first respondent)

›The Stanley Building, 7 Pancras Square, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4AG.

2023 FORUM PROGRAMME

21 June

Crisis begets reform: serving the retail markets for energy

How does energy retail market reform balance consumers’ needs, competition and regulation and maintain an investable market – all while meeting net zero?

Chair:

• Jonson Cox, Chair, The Port of London Authority

Speakers:

• Jonathan Brearley, CEO, Ofgem

• Iain Smedley, Global Chairman of Banking, Barclays Bank

• Dame Clare Moriarty, CEO, Citizens Advice

›The Stanley Building, 7 Pancras Square, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4AG.

18 July

Refer, appeal or grin and bear it?

Comparing the “appeal” processes in infrastructure; are the differences justified?

Chair:

• Colm Gibson, Managing Director, Berkeley Research Group

Speakers:

• Thea Hutchinson, Director, Price Review, Ofwat.

• Natura Gracia, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Partner, Linklaters

• Harold Hutchinson, Managing Director, Co-Head of Energy at Investec

• Martin Young, Senior Analyst - Energy, Utilities, Renewables, and Waste Equity Research, Investec

›Berkeley Research Group, 8 Salisbury Square London EC4Y 8AP

19 September

A generational shift in infrastructure policy and regulation.

What would be in the manifesto of the Sensible Party?

• Chair: TBC

• Speakers: TBC

›National Grid Offices, 1-3 Strand, London

WC2N 5EH

17 October

New ownership models for water companies

Has the water company chicken that laid the golden eggs shuffled off its mortal coil? Could a new model for company ownership revive it?

• Chair: TBC

• Speakers: TBC

›National Grid Offices, 1-3 Strand, London

WC2N 5EH

21 November

Why bother with a calculator when you haven’t mastered the Abacus

Infrastructure businesses are lagging in artificial intelligence, advanced analytics and open data despite the mountains of data waiting to be analysed. Is this due to their monopoly power or the prevalence of regulation?Howcanwegettheskeletonsoutof thecupboardtocreatenewbusinessmodels?

• Chair: TBC

• Speakers: TBC

›National Grid Offices, 1-3 Strand, London

WC2N 5EH

December – date tbc.

The Indepen Forum Christmas Reception and infrastructure quiz

›TBA in Central London

2022 Forums

16 February Scream if you wanna go faster! Is activism more effective than regulation at driving change in economic infrastructure?

Chair: The Rt Hon the Lord Deben, Chairman, Climate Change Committee

21 April Asking the wrong people the wrong questions for the wrong reasons. Are we using the wrong information to understand what customers need and want?

Chair: Bridget Rosewell CBE, Commissioner, National Infrastructure Commission

Speakers: Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation at the Office for Statistics Regulation

James Walker, Non-Executive Director at Consumer Scotland

26 April Have economic consultants hijacked energy and water price regulation?

Chair: Sir Ian Byatt, first Director General of Ofwat (1989 to 2000)

Speakers: Mark Falcon, Director of Zephyre

Andy Manning, Principal Economic Regulation Specialist, Citizens Advice

Professor Tommaso Valletti, Head of the Department of Economics & Public Policy, Imperial College Business School

Simon Wilde, Director of Analysis & Assurance at Ofgem

10 May Go to jail! Do not pass go! Do not collect £200! Do directors of licensed monopolies have more to think about and if so, what?

Chair: Christine Hodgson CBE, Chair:, Severn Trent Water

Speakers: Michael Osbourne Investment Director InfraRed Capital Partners Ltd

Jonson Cox CBE, former Chairman, Ofwat

26 May We’re on the road to nowhere. Come on inside. Who gets left behind in the migration to net zero?

Chair: Trisha McAuley OBE

Speakers: Keith Anderson, CEO, Scottish Power

Sean Duffy, Chief Executive Officer, Wise Group

Simon Parsons, Director of Strategic Customer Service Planning Scottish

Water

Alan Sutherland, CEO, WICS

7 July Give me land lots of land under starry skies above just don’t fence me in! Opening the gate to whole system thinking

Chair: Bridget Rosewell CBE, FICE, MA, MPhil, Commissioner, National Infrastructure Commission

Speakers: Dr Jeff Hardy, Senior Research Fellow at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London

Laura Sandys CBE, CEO of Challenging Ideas

7 September They tried to make me to go to Rehab.... Why regulators need to stop saying no, no no.

Chair: Colm Gibson, Managing Director at Berkeley Research Group

Speakers: Tony Ballance, Chief Strategy & Regulation Officer at Cadent Gas

Sonia Brown, Vice President of UK&I Government Engagement and Regulatory Policy at Visa Europe

Stephen Littlechild, Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham and Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School

20 September This ain’t no technological breakdown. Oh no, this is the road to hell. How to stop siloed transport policy becoming a cul de sac?

Chair:; Pauline Walsh, Non Executive Director, Angel Trains

Speakers: Anit Chandarana, Lead Director on the Great British Railways

Transition Team

Elliot Shaw, Chief Customer and Strategy Officer at National Highways

Christian Wolmar, transport writer and broadcaster

20 October We can’t go on together with suspicious minds. How do we make collaboration for innovation meaningful and sustainable?

Chair: Gus O’Donnell, Chairman, Frontier Economics

Speakers: David Black, CEO, Ofwat

Colin Skellett, CEO, Wessex Water

7 November Model, model toil and trouble! How must we change the model that underlies economic regulation in the UK?

Chair: Nicholas Pollard, Chair: of Tilbury Douglas Group

Speakers: Ingrid Facius, Director at Facii

Paul Ormerod, Director at Volterra

Cathryn Ross, Strategy and Regulatory Affairs Director at Thames Water

31 January Indepen Forum New Year Reception

Speaker: The Rt Hon the Lord David Blunkett

PAST EVENTS

2021 Forums

19 January Save paradise – can new financing arrangements for nature-based solutions defeat the parking lot and the pink hotel

Chair: Richard Nourse, Founder and Managing Partner, Greencoat Capital

Speaker:s David Black, Chief Regulation Officer, Ofwat

David Young, Senior Fellow, Broadway Initiative

16 February Groundhog Day: how can we create policy credibility to engender public support for paying for net zero

Chair: Laura Sandys CBE, CEO, Challenging Ideas

Speaker:s Sul Alli, Director of Strategy and Customer Services, UK Power Networks

Tony Ballance, Chief Strategy & Regulation Officer, Cadent Gas

Dermot Nolan, Director, Fingleton and former CEO, Ofgem

16 March Life in lockdown – has Covid taught us anything about evidence, uncertainty and communication?

Chair: Ann Bishop, Founder of Indepen and the Indepen Forum, Chair: of the Customer Engagement Group (CEG) for UK Power Networks and NonExecutive Director of Affinity Water

Speaker:s Martin Blaxall, Director, Corporate Brand and Communications, AstraZeneca

Ali Chegini, Director of Systems Safety and Health, RSSB

Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation, Office for Statistics Regulation

Ben Page, Chief Executive Officer, Ipsos MORI

20 April How ‘appealing’ is the utilities sector? What should the CMA and Ofwat learn from PR19 and what might this mean for RIIO-2?

Chair: John Penrose, MP for Weston, Worle & The Villages

Speaker:s Maxine Frerk, Chair:, SGN Customer Engagement Group

Ceri Jones, Chair:, WaterSafe

Stephen Littlechild, Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham, and Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School

Angela Love, Director of Future Markets and Engagement, Elexon and Independent Chair:, ScottishPower RIIO2 Transmission User Group

18 May Who should pay to transform our environment?

Chair: Jonson Cox CBE, Chairman, Ofwat

Speaker:s The Rt. Hon John Gummer, Lord Deben, Chairman, Committee on Climate Change

22 June Up, down, round and round – rising up to the challenge of levelling up

Chair: Bridget Rosewell CBE, Commissioner, National Infrastructure Commission

Speaker:s The Rt Hon. Lord Blunkett

Susan Davy, Chief Executive Officer, Pennon Group

Martin McIvor, Research Officer, Prospect

20 July Déjà-vu: why do megaprojects go wrong? How can we fix them?

Chair: David Elliott, Director, Indepen

Speaker:s Howard Ashcraft, Partner, Hanson Bridgett law firm & Adjunct Professor Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford University

Billy Glennon, Chief Executive Officer, VISION Consulting

Nicola Medalova, Managing Director, National Grid Interconnectors

Colin Nicol, Senior Advisor & former Managing Director of Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks

21 September We want it all and we want it now. Infra companies should invest more, but economic regulators worry they will make out like bandits. Discuss!

Chair: Dr Tim Stone CBE, Chairman, Nuclear Industry Association

Speaker:s Filipp Gaddo, Head of Energy Economics and Regulation, Arup

Steve McMahon, Deputy Director, Electricity Distribution and Cross Sector Policy, Ofgem

Cathryn Ross, Strategy and Regulatory Affairs Director, Thames Water

19 October Nothing learned and nothing gained? All together now – collaborating across the infrastructure sectors and beyond to achieve Net Zero

Chair: Dr Jeff Hardy, Senior Research Fellow at the Grantham InstituteClimate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London

Speaker:s Alex Plant, Strategy and Regulation Director, Anglian Water Bridget Rosewell CBE, Commissioner, National Infrastructure Commission

Dipesh Shah OBE, Chair:, National Highways

7 December Well, it’s a marvellous night for a moondance! Solving problems to get to net zero

Chair: Rachel Fletcher, Director of Regulation and Economics at Octopus Energy

Speaker: Neil Harris, Sustainability Strategy and Innovation Lead at Amazon Web Services

The notes of these discussions are available on the indepen website: www.indepen.uk.com/questions

Introduction

Since 2018, Indepen and The Water Report have partnered to host the Social Contract Summit, a forum for decision makers to explore how companies providing essential services infrastructure – water, energy, transport and communications – could provide more value to citizens, society and the environment.

2018 – Defining the social contract

At the Summit’s inception in 2018, social contracting – and the wider idea that essential service companies should deliver more for society and the environment than demanded by their formal obligations or gifted by their charitable contributions –was not the mainstream conversation it is today.

Against a backdrop of perceived failings in the delivery of essential public services, the 2018 Summit brought industry leaders together with regulators, politicians, investors and those representing social and environmental interests to address the fundamental question: how can private companies providing essential public services deliver better outcomes for society?

We also specifically explored and attempted to define the contribution a social contract between essential service companies and their investors on one hand, and customers through government and regulators on the other, could make to rebuilding trust in the industries that underpin our lives.

2019 – Value for all

By 2019, the concept of social value had been enthusiastically adopted, particularly by the water sector where there was considerable progress to report.

Our 2019 Summit therefore focused on issues relating to public value delivery in the water sector, such as how megatrends like

climate change, demographics and technology might impact future service provision, the role of regulation in public value delivery, governance considerations to embed public purpose within companies, the need for greater and more effective collaboration, and the role and nature of engagement with consumers and communities.

2020 – Public purpose in a pandemic

In 2020, the Summit convened virtually to explore how water companies were demonstrating ‘public purpose in a pandemic’.

As anchor institutions in their regions and with the privilege of providing an essential monopoly service, we looked at how water companies were supporting their communities, and contributing to strengthening the economy, enhancing the environment, as well as exploring how the experience of Covid-19 had affected the attitudes and behaviours of those they serve.

We considered what companies could do alone and what they needed agreement, support and partners for. Importantly, we discussed what lessons we might learn from this unique chance to break the mould and do things differently for future models of operation, regulation and policy.

2022: Whole systems go!

Against this backdrop, our Social Contract Summit considered whether a whole systems approach to collaborating on shared challenges across sectors and actors could offer a key to the deadlock of rising expectations and constrained resources.

Further information on the themes and issues we have explored is available at www. indepen.uk.com/ the-summit.

The event was held in RSA, London on Thursday 19 January.

Supported