Those of you up early on Sunday morning may have seen me sharing a sofa with the likes of Sophie Ellis Bextor and Rory Bremner on BBC2.
We were all guests on the Andrew Marr show alongside politicians such as Douglas Alexander and Philip Hammond. Engaging with a political audience is vital because they are shaping the debate about energy bills, and how we keep them down.
Appearing on a live TV show can sometimes test the nerves and it’s tempting to second guess the questions. But for me it was the perfect opportunity to be crystal clear on what SSE really wants to say: that we genuinely care about affordability.
During the interview I explained our price freeze was our response to customers who want peace of mind when it comes to their bills.
Not surprisingly Andrew Marr was interested in the politics of it all. I said that Labour’s call for a price freeze last year had resonated with the public, but government measures to take green levies out of bills helped us take action now.
The Ofgem report and the impact of a CMA enquiry also came up. We welcome anything that acts in the interest of the consumer. Ultimately energy companies and politicians want the same thing: affordable energy in a trusted market.
I also stressed our desire to see more action on green taxes. The Government listened once to us on this, so we’ve written to all three party leaders asking for fairer energy taxes that could save UK households a further £100.
Before the interview ended I wanted to reaffirm our commitment to investing in the UK and our exciting projects such as Beatrice offshore wind farm and our CCS facility at Peterhead.
After the show there was a chance to chat to some of the other guests and it was interesting to see that energy was of interest to such a diverse group. Colleagues have since been kind enough to say it went well and I hope that SSE came across as part of the solution and not the problem.
For more on the interview see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26808182