The chief executive of Perth-based energy giant SSE has announced he is to stand down from the top job taking another sideswipe at the UK Government’s “uninvestable” power policy as he did so.
Ian Marchant, who criticised a lack of vision at the Department of Energy and Climate Change and regulator Ofgem last week, said the proposals in Westminster’s Energy Bill created too much uncertainty for an industry looking to secure the future of our energy supplies.
He also repeated his calls for greater efforts to increase energy efficiency as a way of reducing costs for consumers.
Mr Marchant, who has been in post for more than a decade, will be replaced by deputy Alistair Phillips-Davies in the summer.
Mr Phillips-Davies joined the firm’s predecessor Southern Electric in 1997 and was made Mr Marchant’s deputy last year.
Finance director Gregor Alexander will also enjoy an expanded role in the firm’s new management structure.
Mr Marchant told The Courier he had “mixed feelings” as he prepared to move on, but that SSE had completed a “gradual evolution” to grow to more than twice its previous size during his 10 years at the helm.
“It’s only when you step back and look at it that you realise that the company is between two and three times the size on just about any measure,” he said.
He was “proud” to have delivered a sustainable dividend for shareholders, but warned of challenges ahead.
“The Energy Bill is not investable; there’s too much uncertainty,” he said, adding that working on the proposals would be a key part of his remaining 5 months in office.
“The challenge my successor will have, once it’s clear what the settled position is, is to work out what the impact of that is on the company,” the Wood Group and Maggie’s Centres director added.
But he warned that unit rates would only continue to increase as firms commit more capital to generation and infrastructure and that customers’ bills would only reduce through improved energy efficiency.
“Unit rates will be going up as the industry invests, but if we get the energy efficiency right then people will spend less,” Mr Marchant said. “That is the key bit of the jigsaw that we have to have.”
Mr Phillips-Davies said he hoped the company could become more “agile” by speeding up its decision-making processes, and would also aim to make power more affordable for consumers while continuing to deliver returns to investors.
“We’ve got a lot of policy at the moment around decarbonising the economy, and in making sure that we keep the lights on,” he said.
“But the critical piece in that, I think, is affordability. What we’ve got to do is make sure that as a company we lead the debate and we lead the investment so that we are providing affordable energy for all the customers that are out there.”
Meanwhile, Mr Alexander stressed the company’s priority was to make the “right decisions about the right investments” in order to support dividends. “It is what our shareholders expect,” he said.
First Minister Alex Salmond paid tribute to Mr Marchant’s contributions in the energy sector.
“He has been a key figure in driving forward Scotland’s ambitions to be a world leader in renewable energy, and showed further leadership in bringing together an impressive range of business, public-sector and third-sector leaders in the 2020 Climate Group to collaborate on real actions to help reduce emissions across Scotland,” he said.
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