I was really excited to catch up with good friend David Watson of BFY Group at this years Future of Utilities Summit for the latest in my energy insights series. We tackled the big subject of the moment - flexibility - and I was really keen to get David’s views on how flexiblity would play out.
He framed flexibility as a genuinely growing market, but one where the economics aren’t yet proven; the businesses trying to build propositions are, in his words, running “a bit of a jam tomorrow strategy,” earning little from customer engagement today in the hope of future returns.
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Low adoption of enabling technology. He points to EVs, solar, batteries and heat pumps as the physical assets that flexibility depends on, and argues take up is still too low; without more of these assets in homes, there’s little for the market to work with.
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Weak price signals for consumers. David estimated the average household could earn “a couple of hundred quid a year” from optimising flexible assets properly; enough to interest engaged early adopters, but not enough, in his view, to move mainstream customers who don’t already understand the space.
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An understanding and confidence gap. David separates out people who “geek out” on energy from a much larger group who simply want energy to be affordable and invisible; for them, someone remotely controlling in home devices feels unfamiliar and, in his phrase, “a bit scary.”
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Historic trust deficit with energy suppliers. Drawing on our shared background at British Gas during a period of price changes, David argues energy companies have failed for years to earn back consumer trust, and that this is a “massive challenge” standing in flexibility’s way. His proposed fix isn’t a big campaign but getting fundamentals right, accurate bills, reliable smart meter readings, and insight people can actually use, alongside clearer, jargon free communication about what flexibility even means.
Watch the interview here