It is with great sadness that I write to mark the passing of Andrew Bainbridge, founder of the Major Energy Users’ Council, whose funeral took place on 8 May. For those of you who didn’t know him, Andrew is inseparable from the history of MEUC. He was not simply the person who created the organisation; he gave it its character. Independent, direct, practical, member-focused and unafraid to speak for major users, Andrew believed passionately that large energy and utility consumers needed a voice of their own.
MEUC was founded in early 1987, at a time when the UK’s nationalised energy industries were moving towards privatisation and competition. Andrew saw earlier than most that major industrial, commercial, retail and public sector users would need more than market updates. They would need independent information, practical guidance, trusted relationships and a forum in which serious users could speak with authority to suppliers, regulators and government.
That was Andrew’s vision. The old MEUC line, ‘information is power’, captured it well. He understood that in a changing market, knowledge, access and confidence mattered. MEUC was built to help large users understand what was happening, challenge where necessary, and make better decisions in a complex and often uneven marketplace.
Over time, the organisation’s formal structures evolved, and the MEUC name came to reflect a broader role across energy, water and other utility interests. But the founding idea remained constant: major users needed a knowledgeable, independent and practical voice of their own.
I first became involved with MEUC in 1997, and I had the privilege of working with Andrew during some of those earlier years. He was charismatic, forceful, energetic and deeply committed to the organisation he had built. Those of us who worked with him saw at close quarters how much he believed in MEUC and in the role it played in the industry.
Andrew did not see MEUC simply as a meetings business, a publishing operation or a source of market information. He saw it as a community of major users, advisers and sector participants who could come together to understand change, compare experiences and influence policies affecting the market. He believed in the value of relationships. He believed in getting the right people in the room. He believed that members should be informed, confident and properly represented.
That belief shaped much of what MEUC became. Under Andrew’s leadership, the Council spoke up on supplier behaviour, market consolidation, network performance, security of supply, energy efficiency, green energy claims, regulation and the practical realities facing large consumers. His approach was always grounded in the impact on the member: the organisation paying the bill, managing the risk and trying to operate in a market that was often complex, costly and increasingly difficult to understand.
He was also, at heart, a communicator. His early background in journalism and public affairs gave him a clear instinct for how to frame an issue, how to challenge an argument and how to make complicated subjects understandable. He valued briefings, conferences, training, magazines and meetings because they helped members make sense of the world around them. That instinct remains central to MEUC’s purpose today.
On a personal level, Andrew’s influence on me was significant. I spent many formative years around MEUC while Andrew’s passion for the organisation was still very much at the centre of its identity. I saw the conviction he brought to the business, the relationships he built and the expectation that MEUC should matter; not just to those inside it, but to the wider energy industry. Today, as Chief Executive, I feel that responsibility very clearly.
MEUC is now operating in a very different market, with different pressures, different technologies and a much wider energy, carbon and water agenda. But much of the underlying purpose remains Andrew’s: to bring major users together, to make sense of complexity, to challenge where challenge is needed, and to ensure that the voice of energy and water users is heard. Continuing that work is part of Andrew’s legacy.
His public life also extended beyond MEUC into the City and the livery world, including his involvement with the Worshipful Company of Fuellers and the traditions of the City of London. Those who knew him will recognise that as part of the same picture: Andrew valued institutions, fellowship, relationships and good company, but always with energy, purpose and personality behind them.
On behalf of MEUC, I extend our sincere condolences to Andrew’s wife Marianne, his family, friends, former colleagues and all who knew him. We remember him with gratitude as MEUC’s founder, as a champion of major users, and as someone whose belief in this organisation continues to shape its purpose today.
Andrew will be greatly missed.