“The problem that we have at the heart of the supply market is that actually people only make money if they sell lots of energy so [we need to] change those incentives. Think about the mobile phone market: my data provider is incentivised for me to use the least amount of data possible because I've got a service agreement with them. That starts to drive them to optimise and reduce costs right way through the system. They will then offer me, hopefully with competition, a lower price as they've been able to lower the supply chain price.”

Listen again to Laura Sandys, CEO of Challenging Ideas, talking about our outmoded energy market structures and how these should be revamped to address the pressing issue of energy affordability. Laura broke down the many obstacles to innovation in energy retail and the regulatory changes necessary to make the system work for the benefit of consumers — even in these straitened times.

Today’s “hosepipe” energy market structure still treats consumers very m…