Expertise
Social value, consumer legitimacy & sustainability
Businesses must go beyond the pursuit of pure ‘shareholder value’ to define a broader purpose and demonstrate their positive social impact. Issues around ‘trust’ and ‘fairness’ and the need to show how the expectations and needs of consumers are met, influence both company behaviour and government policy.
Perception relies on trust, which although multi-faceted, depends upon governance, ownership and a demonstration of how companies are delivering on a wider purpose beyond the pursuit of profit. This topic has recently gained momentum across the globe. UK regulators of the utilities sector are asking privately-owned companies to demonstrate social value and legitimacy and ensure that the services they deliver reflect what consumers want and are willing to pay for.
Consumer engagement has played a vital role in price reviews in the past decade. More recently, as part of the 2019 Price Review in the water sector and the RIIO-2 price control reviews in the energy sector, regulators have put even more emphasis on how companies interact with their consumers.
Consumers, policymakers and private businesses are also focusing on decarbonising economic activity to limit the impact of climate change and to secure an environmentally sustainable future. Policymakers are increasingly recognising that such transition can only deliver efficiencies and synergies that reduce the costs of decarbonisation for society through the development of an integrated system that internalises the links between energy, heat and transport.
With the consumer at the centre of it all, our expertise in the electricity, gas and transport sectors makes us uniquely positioned to help policymakers, developers and consumer groups overcome the challenges presented by an integrated energy system.
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Social value, consumer legitimacy & sustainability News & insights
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