Utility Strategy Group

Future Energy Strategies

July 2010: Utility Strategy Group joins with Future Energy Strategies

NEWS: USG and FES are to join forces and look forward to holding a series of events in 2010/2011.

Dan Lewis, Chief Executive of FES says;

"FES is very excited to be working together with USG. A highly-respected independent group of industry professionals, over the years, USG have brought together leading thinkers in the energy and utilities sphere and have produced many sterling top quality, thought-provoking events".

Edward Hyams, Chair of USG says;

"We are delighted that Dan Lewis who has done so much interesting work on energy and organised many high profile think tank events over the last few years has agreed to take on the name of USG together with Future Energy Strategies. FES also brings new capabilities to our evening events. Not least an extensive mailing list, an excellent Advisory Board and a scaleable, integrated IT system."

A History of the USG by Ken Prior

The 1960’s saw the first serious attempts at corporate planning. The Strategic Planning Society was formed then. By the early 70’s some fifty UK companies were developing business plans. Shell lead the way and in 1971 they produced the first ‘scenarios’ which enabled ‘planners’ to move away from often misleading ‘horses tail’ forecasts which had been widely used . Such planning became the ‘norm’ in business life.

The Strategic Planning Society played an important role in encouraging businesses to plan their activities and to think longer term. In the late 80’s, the organization experienced some financial and organisational difficulties. The Industries Group, which had achieved considerable success with sponsorship, felt they should breakaway and form a separate entity. They formed the Utility Strategy Group. The focus was on the utilities that had been privatised: gas, water and electricity and other networks. For some ten years, USG arranged events highlighting the options facing the utilities. In 1999, a two day event considered "Where are the Utilities Going next” debated by a range of speakers including Sir John Collins( Nat Power), Sir David Varney (BG), John Devaney ( Eastern Group), Jim Forbes( SSE) and David Jones ( Nat Grid) .

USG evolved a successful ‘ early evening’ format which suited people who wanted to attend the events. It has worked well. Starting at 5.30pm with the speaker (s) at 6pm followed by drinks and networking. The events have been very popular and wide ranging including “Paying the Price for cooking with gas- Jake Ulrich MD Centrica to” Vincent De Rivas- CEO EDF, making his case for building nuclear plants in UK.

Now another change, fully supported by USG. It will join with the” Futures Energy Strategies “ lead by Dan Lewis. It is timely that the brief is widened to encompass the wider energy scene. USG and FES will continue for sometime to optimize the value of both brands. Probably, in time, they will merge completely.

Ken Prior ( formerly Chairman USG)

What we are

An independent group of senior industry executives and observers eager to facilitate an informed, and potentially influential, discussion of utility issues. Our aim is to ensure quality input and a genuine discussion that will help enable the UK to meet the extensive challenges of the twenty first century.
We want to encourage an atmosphere that stimulates innovative thinking rather than set-piece presentations defined by the status quo.

What we do

We can’t pretend to offer the answers to extremely
difficult questions in one short session - however we do aim to stimulate debate and provide participants with the opportunity to have their say. We provide thought-provoking occasions for CEOS and senior executives to gain new insights from key players.

Who we are

Mark Akehurst - Corporate Development Manager,GdF Britain
Paul Garrett - Energy Editor, Pathfinder Business
Nigel Hawkins - journalist
Edward Hyams - Chair, Energy Saving Trust (Chair)
Gill Golding - Independent utilities consultant
(Deputy Chair)
Dan Lewis - Future Energy Strategies and Economic Policy Centre
David Lowish -Director, Generation Investment Management
Richard Marshall - Hammonds
Ken Prior - International corporate consultant
Simon Skillings - Director, Trilemma UK

Contact

To contact us email Dan Lewis on dan@future-es.com