Energy and utilities companies are facing many challenges across the industry over the next five years, with decarbonisation, digitalisation of the energy networks and balancing this with the growing demand to deliver increased value to consumers, all requiring significant investments in technology and skills. In 2019, the UK government made one of the most ambitious national responses to the threat of climate change by cementing the nation’s net zero by 2050 target in law. They also accelerated the target again to 78 per cent by 2035 in response to the advice of the Climate Change Committee in setting the Sixth Carbon Budget. By the end of the 2028, the country needs to be well on the way to a decarbonised energy system to achieve this.
Changing consumer needs and the government’s decarbonisation challenge require an increasingly decentralised and digitalised energy system. That includes recognising the value in sharing data openly within this sector and the wider community. To support these goals, investments are required to improve network management to increase efficiencies.
SCC has been supporting the UK energy and utilities sector to continuously transform over the last 50 years, contending with many periods of sector transformation. As the industry has evolved, SCC continue to keep pace and provide thought leadership and a technology road map for success to support energy and utilities companies in optimising operational efficiency, meeting climate targets and creating customer value propositions.
SCC’s solution offerings are designed to meet the challenges faced by today’s energy and utilities providers, across the power and water sectors. We deliver digital transformation by combining our portfolio of IT infrastructure, including digital workplace, cloud, cyber and value-added reselling services into end-to-end solutions which tackle the three main sector challenges of decarbonisation, digitalisation and delivering increased value to consumers.
Energy use accounts for almost 75% of the world’s emissions and in the UK, 18% of our emissions are from heating homes. In the UK, we are aiming to be an emission net zero country by 2050. Energy and utilities providers face the challenge of reducing their own carbon footprint while working under the UK government to install heat pumps, upgrade home heating systems and continue their standard services.
Cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated, posing a greater risk to organisations, UK residents and national security. Energy and utilities providers need to take a security-by-design approach to their digital investment to ensure they meet NCSC cyber security and resilience principles creating a reliable and secure digital environment.
The average customer satisfaction rate for energy and utilities providers is currently in decline. Rising costs, geopolitical tensions and sustainability pressures have impacted providers and their customers heavily. To provide an improved service to customers, energy and utilities providers need to invest in digital communication channels that increase visibility and reliability.