Speakers

Tom Parsons is a specialist in the UK energy market, with a focus on helping businesses and households decarbonise while reducing energy costs. He has led commercial teams over the past 18 years at EDF, Drax, and most recently Good Energy, where he currently serves as Commercial Director.

Tom holds an MBA in Sustainable Business Management from the University of Exeter and is passionate about the role existing technologies can play in accelerating the energy transition. From rooftop solar to renewable-backed PPAs, he believes there are practical, affordable routes to greener power available right now.

He has overseen major product launches aimed at supporting decarbonisation, including Good Energy’s market-leading solar export, EV and battery charging tariffs, as well as the rollout of heat pump and solar installations for both businesses and households.
 

What would you preach to the industry: your one big thing everyone needs to hear?

Despite a lot of negative rhetoric filing the newspapers, global progress on quality energy management, sustainability and renewables is marching on. Businesses and individuals have spent decades progressing to where we are now, and some short-term political noise will not stand in the way of the long term trend. We continue to move in the right direction, we should all be proud of our ability to influence this positive change, and should filter out the noise and carry on delivering sustainable progress.

Is there a myth in industry that you'd like to bust?

That progress is bad. Data centres are getting a lot of challenge in the press at the moment about how much energy and water they use. But environmental stewardship and progress aren’t polar opposites. We should be supporting growth in data centres and other industries by making sure they are designed with a renewables first approach – so they can be good grid citizens and actually contribute to a more sustainable country, while creating jobs and products of the future.

What’s the one shift coming to the energy landscape that you think most people are still underestimating?

The way business report their carbon footprint is likely to change. They are unlikely to be able to claim they are using 100% renewable power. This means communicating to stakeholders what their true % is and then working to improve it. Changes are expected to go live in 2027, but contracts signed now will cross into that period – so energy managers need to be considering it now.