Wednesday 14 October 2026 | AMTC, Coventry
09.00 – 17.00
October makes the opening of the application window for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS), a relief decision that will shape procurement, capex and pass-through exposure through to 2030. It is one of several decisions major energy users now face: relief eligibility, contract and capacity choices, project prioritisation, flexibility value, water resilience and proof of value to finance.
If the Buying and Using Utilities Live event in April covered the new bill reality (available to view on-demand), then this October event is the moment major energy users decide what to do about it for the next three years.
The question for the day is:
How should you manage your energy and water portfolios through to 2030 — when relief eligibility, data, capacity, flexibility, carbon and investment decisions are all live at the same time?
Session Two – Inside the Estate: water, flexible assets and contract reality
Some sites contain hidden risk. Others contain hidden value. This session looks inside the estate: water resilience, flexible assets, contract clauses, capacity agreements and operating models. The aim is to help delegates understand what they already have, what may be holding them back, and what they can control in front of and behind the meter.
Session Agenda
| 11.55 | Introduction Chair: Karma Loveday, Water Adviser, MEUC |
| 12.00 | The Site You Had to Stop – for Water, Not Energy One site, one near-miss or actual stoppage, the cost of the disruption and the warning signs that were missed. This session moves from advocacy to evidence, drawing on metering, leakage, trade effluent, tariff exposure and the operational consequences of poor water visibility. Rob Barker, Industrial Customer and Decarbonisation Manager, WAVE Utilities |
| 12.15 | Monetising Flexibility: where is the value for large energy users? Where can large energy users make money or avoid cost through flexibility? This session looks at explicit and implicit value streams, which assets are best placed to participate, and how the opportunities differ across different types of energy user.Eamonn Bell, Senior Consultant, Flexibility Specialist, LCP Delta |
| 12.30 | The Capacity Audit: are you paying for the capacity you actually need? Capacity and contract arrangements are often reviewed only when a problem arises, yet they can have a significant impact on overall energy spend. This session examines how organisations can assess agreed capacity levels, identify opportunities to reduce capacity-related charges, understand the implications for wider network costs, and ensure contract assumptions remain aligned to actual site usage.Mela Hadrovic, Operations Director, Trio. |
| 12.45 | Beyond Commodity: The Regulatory Forces Reshaping Energy Costs While wholesale energy prices remain a key consideration for businesses, they are only part of the story. This session will examine the growing impact of network, policy and infrastructure costs on business energy bills, explore the trends shaping energy costs through to 2030, and highlight the support available to eligible organisations through the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS). Dan Parry, Regulatory Affairs Manager, Shell Energy |
| 13.00 | Engage, Query, and Learn: An open mic session designed to challenge speakers on what delegates should act on, what assumptions they should test, and what risks they may be missing. Questions led by the Chair |