Chief Executive Officer Of Synergy, Trevor James Interviewed In Executive Business Title, The CEO Magazine

Trevor James spoke to The CEO Magazine on the success of Synergy, Western Australia’s largest and most experienced energy retailer

by Paris Brooks

(WireNews+Co) - Sydney, Australia - 29 January 2013

With a 50-per-cent share in the Western Australian gas market and over 900,000 gas and electricity customers across the state, Synergy is well equipped to deal with a range of energy needs from family homes to small, medium, and large businesses. CEO of Synergy Trevor James says this flexibility is at the heart of Synergy’s success.

“We’re in an interesting part of the value chain because we sit in the middle. We deal in the wholesale market and we also sell to the residential market, so we see the whole picture. It’s a complex industry. We have a multifaceted and diverse wholesale portfolio to meet these complex demands. We have an investment upstream of around $26 billion in power purchase agreements with power stations and gas suppliers to meet the demands of our customers.

“On the retail side, we have around 900,000 customers split between a residential market, where we have a franchise, and a contestable market, where we’re competing with four other retailers. Meeting the needs of those diverse groups is about understanding their changing needs, which is an interesting challenge.”

The electricity market in Western Australia operates very differently from that of the east coast. Synergy is owned by the state government and is the only electricity provider to the residential market, while it operates in a highly competitive contestable market to service its larger business, industrial and commercial customers.

Trevor and the Synergy team confidently meet these challenges through a strong value system and a commitment to customer service. “We have four values that drive our business,” explains Trevor. “The first one is obviously integrity; you don’t survive in any market unless you’re honest and open with your customers.

“Another value is quality relationships. If we don’t have quality relationships and a strong brand with our customers, then we’ll lose them. The third value is about being enterprising. As the energy industry continues to change, we need to have the flexibility and the capability to be able to adjust to our customers’ needs. Finally, it’s about spirit and determination. We need to be able to move fast to keep changing with the industry and its evolving needs.”

The full editorial feature can be found here (http://www.theceomagazine.com.au/Synergy/Trevor_James.pdf).

The CEO Magazine is Australia’s leading business magazine focused directly at high-level executives. The CEO Magazine is of unrivalled quality and has a hugely-influential readership of Australia's top businessmen and women. The CEO Magazine holds a prestigious partnership with a number of leading Australian airlines and can be seen in every Virgin and Qantas Business Lounge across Australia as well as all Hilton Hotels nationwide. The CEO Magazine also holds Australia's most prestigious awards night for high-level executives, the annual, Executive of the Year Awards. To find out more about The CEO Magazine go to http://www.TheCEOMagazine.com.au (http://www.TheCEOMagazine.com.au).