Utility Week articles from July 2003

Utility Week archives from July 2003

TELECOMS; Row escalates between 3 owners.(of Hutchison 3G)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... The row between two of the three shareholders in third-generation mobile operator Hutchison 3G has deepened, with parent company Hutchison Whampoa seeking an independent valuation of the telecoms company. Hong Kong-based conglomerate...

TELECOMS; BT's rivals team up in break-up calls.(UK Telecommunications Association formed)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Fixed-line rivals of BT have launched a trade body aimed at promoting greater competition in the industry. The UK Telecommunications Association (UKCTA) is a fixed-line operators-only body formed out of the fixed and mobile trade body Other...

Getting down to business.(business-to-business market)
July 4, 2003... Tools are now available to help utilities segment and target the business-to-business market as they do the domestic market . By Simon Lawrence. Until energy utilities were deregulated, marketing was largely an unnecessary discipline. Each...

ELECTRICITY; Vattenfall to sell discount supplier.(Vattenfall Europe to sell Best Energy)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Vattenfall Europe plans to sell its Germany-based discount power supplier Best Energy. Lars Josefsson, head of the Swedish utility's German subsidiary, said none of the country's power discounters had a long-term future. The group hoped...

WATER; Subsidy shift could clean up farms.(EU Common Agricultural Policy reforms)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Trade body Water UK has joined environmental and countryside groups in welcoming reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy agreed last week by European Union farm ministers. At the heart of the changes is the de-coupling of farm subsidies...

WATER; Sewage capex fails to rise in 2002.(capital expenditure)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Capital expenditure on sewage disposal projects failed to pick up in the year to March 2002, after a 25 per cent dip the previous year. Latest figures from market researcher MSI showed a negligible increase to [pounds sterling]1.84 billion...

WATER; Commission criticised for snub to customers.(European Commission)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... by Karma Ockenden UK customer watchdog WaterVoice has hit out at the European Commission for neglecting consumer views on the Water Framework Directive. WaterVoice chairman Maurice Terry said there was a seat for a consumer...

ELECTRICITY; Grid gets OK to pass on charge for Drax cover.(National Grid, AES Drax)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... In the first application of a special dispensation, National Grid has been allowed by regulator Ofgem to pass on the [pounds sterling]5 million-plus costs of a contract made with AES Drax to ensure security of supply after the collapse of TXU...

ELECTRICITY; Eastern Europe holds most cross-border promise.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Electricite de France (EdF) believes central and eastern Europe will be 'the main engine of growth' in the future for the electricity and gas sectors. Marc Boudier, group executive vice president of EdF, said last week that the region...

ENERGY; Electrabel ups French supplier stake.(in Compagnie Nationale du Rhone)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Electrabel, the Belgian power arm of French utility Suez, has acquired a 17.86 per cent stake in French supplier Compagnie Nationale du Rhone (CNR) from a group of French cities and regional authorities. The deal comes a week after the French...

ENERGY; Bill rises of 8% for levy payers.(Climate Change Levy)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Industrial customers who incurred the Climate Change Levy by not agreeing to cut energy use paid 8 per cent more for their energy than those who did, according to the latest government energy statistics. The quarterly figures from the...

ENERGY; Eon looking to consolidate in central Europe.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Germany's Eon Energie is looking at consolidating its gas and electricity holdings in central Europe, before considering further expansion eastwards. 'We're much more interested in getting a majority in similar countries and using the...

Fried squirrels, scrambled EDs.
July 4, 2003... This is probably a world record. A former bank employee called Mohammed Ismail, who lives in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, has finally got what he wanted after a wait of 27 years. He now has a landline telephone courtesy of the...

WATER; Cambridge sale off after owner says bids too low.(Union Fenosa will not sell Cambridge Water)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Spanish power company Union Fenosa has abandoned plans to sell its subsidiary, water-only company Cambridge Water, after being disappointed by the value of bids it received. The debt-saddled company has instead revealed plans to sell 80 per...

Frosty reception.(Finnish consumers balk at higher electricity prices, may begin to switch suppliers)
July 4, 2003... Major Finnish electricity suppliers imposed steep price rises this spring, hard on the heels of previous price hikes in the autumn. Many consumers' electricity bills will soon be almost 30 per cent higher than just a year ago. According to...

GAS; 400bcm hike in pipe capacity needed.(European Union)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Gas pipeline capacity will have to be increased by 400 billion cubic metres by 2030 if demand in an enlarged European Union is to be met, Anders Eldrup, president of Danish state energy company Dong, said last week. The improving economic...

electricity; German trade volume squeezed by duopoly.(Eon, RWE)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... by Zo Grainge German electricity trading volumes fell by 40 per cent in 2002 because energy giants Eon and RWE stifled competition, according to a study by consultancy Prospex Research. Of some 400 companies registered as electricity...

ENERGY; Ilex bought by Swiss rival.(Electrowatt-Ekono)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Leading energy consultancy Ilex has been acquired by Switzerland-based international counterpart Electrowatt-Ekono for an undisclosed sum. Oxford-based Ilex has established a reputation as an advisor on competitive energy markets since it...

GAS; Ofgem ponders probe on price-rig allegations.
July 4, 2003... by Roger Milne Ofgem has signalled that it is taking seriously allegations that some gas industry players were guilty of price-rigging last month when supply and gas balancing problems led to unprecedented summer supply interruptions. ...

WATER; Lords scupper plan to pass bill to landlords.
July 4, 2003... by Karma Ockenden A water industry plan to make landlords responsible for their tenants' water bills has been scuppered. The industry lobbied for an amendment to the Water Bill, currently at the report stage in the House of Lords, to...

ELECTRICITY; Row looms over pollution curb plan.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... The UK's coal-fired generators are on a collision course with the government over the way the UK plans to meet new regulations to cut air pollution. The proposed regime could involve emissions trading. At issue is the European Union's Large...

ENERGY; Powergen gets thumbs-up for ending late fee.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Consumer watchdog Energywatch and a Labour backbencher have welcomed Powergen's decision to scrap a controversial charge placed on people who are late in paying their bills. Powergen has stopped the late payment charge it inherited on its...

Wrong numbers.(customer profiling)
July 4, 2003... Our feature on page 26 this week explores the tools available to utilities to help them segment and target different groups of customers in today's competitive energy market. Profiling methodologies like geodemographics can help utilities...

ENERGY; Bank urges Brussels to support long deals.(European Bank for Regional Development)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... by Mark Andress The European Bank for Regional Development (EBRD) last week called on its major shareholder, the European Union, to back long-term power contracts in the energy sector if it wanted small companies to survive. Small...

ENERGY; Firms need green push to survive.(International Energy Agency)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Energy companies need to engage themselves more in meeting Kyoto Protocol environmental targets if they are to survive, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned last week. The cost of paying for carbon emissions would push the average...

The scope for micro.(Combined Heat and Power)
July 4, 2003... Micro-CHP is the smallest form of Combined Heat and Power (CHP). Micro-CHP units generate electrical output of less than 5kW and commercial development of the technology could bring about a shift in the way homeowners and small businesses meet...

GAS; Hungary plans to sell its last stake in Mol.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... The Hungarian government plans to sell its remaining 23.6 per cent holding in oil and gas group Mol over the next two years. Finance minister Csaba Laszlo said an initial tranche of 10-13 per cent would be offered later this year in a...

Storage shortage ramps up.(gas storage)
July 4, 2003... Next week the Competition Commission is due to pronounce on Centrica's acquisition of the Rough storage facilities, which will highlight not only the competition issues but will also underline the current chronic shortage of strategic gas...

Kelda Group.(Company Profile)
July 4, 2003... by Zo Grainge Kelda, owner of Yorkshire Water, recently sold its 45.5 per cent stake in Waste Recycling Group to private equity company Terra Firma for [pounds sterling]144 million. Kelda had been seeking to sell its WRG stake since the...

Ericsson.(Company Profile)
July 4, 2003... by Nigel Hawkins Ericsson has been one of Sweden's leading industrial companies for well over a century. Indeed, it has been active worldwide since 1876 and is presently represented in over 160 countries. It employs a workforce of over...

GAS; Natural shifts its gaze beyond Spain.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Spanish gas giant Gas Natural has focused its growth plans on the rest of Europe, chief executive Antonio Brufau told the company's annual general meeting last week. Brufau said Natural would seek growth outside Spain as the opening up of...

ENERGY; Nordic groups must get it together.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... State-owned Nordic energy groups, including Fortum, Statkraft and Vattenfall, should form strategic cross-border alliances to protect their domestic market positions against competitors from Europe, Russia and the US, according to one of...

ELECTRICITY; Nuclear sector shells out [pounds sterling]55 million on security.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Britain's civil nuclear power industry spent around [pounds sterling]55 million last year on measures to combat terrorism and sabotage, according to the second report of the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS). The watchdog, part of...

Pensions state.(pension reforms)
July 4, 2003... Having been criticised by most commentators for excessive timidity when it first unveiled its Pensions Green Paper last December, the government has now thrown a much larger rock into the pensions pond. This time, the ripples created by its...

Carbon counting begins in earnest.(emissions trading)
July 4, 2003... Ministers are keen to underline the importance of emissions trading to the government's energy policy. But last week's Whitehall-convened summit looking forward to the advent of the European Union scheme posed more questions than answers. ...

ENERGY; Skills shortage growing, warns NGT chairman.(NationalGrid Transco chairman Sir John Parker)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Amid growing fears of power capacity shortages, the prospect of a depleted skills pool in engineering is adding to the threat to the UK energy sector, according to a senior industry figure. Speaking in London on receiving the Institute of...

WATER; Inflation-busting price rises looming.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Customer champion WaterVoice last week warned that signs were emerging of price rises above the rate of inflation at the next periodic review. Chairman Maurice Terry said there were 'a fair number' of pressures on prices building up, and...

ELECTRICITY; Palacio urges links to Russian grid.(European Commission energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... European Commission energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio has stressed Brussels' commitment to the interconnection and integration of the Russian electricity network with that of continental Europe. But she made it clear last week that...

ENVIRONMENT; BNFL clean-up ordered as Irish legal challenge fails.(British Nuclear Fuels)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Environment minister Elliot Morley has asked British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to stop discharging technetium radioactive waste from its Sellafield site. The ruling could pose difficulties for the company's reprocessing operations. Meanwhile, the UK...

ENERGY; Statkaft acquisitions backed by state.(Norway)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Norway's Parliament has ratified a proposal by opposition parties led by Labour to inject e1.22 billion in new capital into state energy company Statkraft. The approval is designed to fortify Statkraft's finances and reinforce its ability...

Cautious hope for telecoms.(stock prices)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... by Trevor Dooley As the glamour and glitz of the WestLB/Bream bid faded into the distance, AWG was left still sitting as a bid target. Meanwhile, Cable & Wireless continued to rally against a backdrop of disinterest in telecoms from...

TELECOMS; Rivals force axe at Telefonica.
July 4, 2003... by Ivan Castano Spanish telecoms group Telefonica is to axe 15,000 jobs - 37 per cent of the staff at its struggling fixed-line operation - in a bid to save e600 million a year. Telefonica said the measure was in response to a...

TELECOMS; Mobile operators lick wounds after ruling.(15% charge cut upheld)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... by Zo Grainge Three mobile network operators have been left considering their next move after a High Court ruling rejected requests by Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile to overturn the Competition Commission's decision to enforce by 25 July a...

ELECTRICITY; Ofgem and DTI clash over fees for losses.(Department of Trade and Industry)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... by Trevor Dooley Plans to introduce location-based charges for using the electricity transmission grid were thrown into disarray this week as the government and energy regulator Ofgem clashed over the issue. Generator British Energy has...

PAN-UTILITY; Most utility customer records inaccurate.
July 4, 2003... by Karma Ockenden Nearly nine out of ten customer records held by utilities are inaccurate, a survey has revealed. Data specialist GB Group analysed four million customer records from five utility companies and found 86 per cent were...

TELECOMS; Wind and NTT in data link-up.(Wind Telecomunicazioni, NTT DoCoMo strategic alliance)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... Wind Telecomunicazioni, the telecoms arm of Italian energy giant Enel and Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo, have agreed a strategic alliance to market mobile data services in Italy. The partnership will run for five years. Enel chief executive...

TELECOMS; Yell flotation poised to raise [pounds sterling]2 billion.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2003... The UK's largest directories company, Yell, which publishes the Yellow Pages, has announced plans to list on the London Stock Exchange next week with a valuation of about [pounds sterling]2 billion. The initial public offering will be the...

TELECOMS; Tariff cuts see 3 sales soar, says Carphone.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... by Zo Grainge Mobile telephone retailer Carphone Warehouse said last week it was signing between 3,000 and 4,000 subscribers a week to 3 since the operator slashed its tariffs. 3 is the third-generation service run by Hutchison 3G. ...

ENERGY; APX eyes Belgium as trade shakedown grows.(Amsterdam Power Exchange)
July 11, 2003... by Trevor Dooley Growing evidence of a shakedown in energy trading across Europe gathered momentum this week with news of expansion plans and retreats. Dutch energy exchange Amsterdam Power Exchange (APX) has unveiled plans to open an...

GAS; Bank quashes Natural merger rumour.(La Caixa)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Spanish savings bank La Caixa has ruled out the widely rumoured merger between Gas Natural and water company Agbar. In a statement with market watchdog CNMV, Gas Natural's biggest shareholder, La Caixa, said it had not ordered a study on...

MULTI-UTILITY; Energy firms to up stakes in telecoms.(Endesa, Union Fenosa to increase stakes in Auna)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Two of Spain's leading energy companies were last week pondering raising their stake in compatriot telecoms operator Auna. Electricity major Endesa was considering exercising an option to buy 5.5 per cent of Auna for e477 million. The...

ELECTRICITY; BE to axe jobs as it quits its Glasgow HQ.(British Energy)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Up to 80 jobs could be lost as a result of British Energy's decision to quit its headquarters in East Kilbride, near Glasgow. The troubled generator said last week that 150 operational staff working at Peel Park would be relocated to...

ELECTRICITY; MPs call end to skewed wires fees.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... A cross-party group of MPs has leapt on the government's 'disinclination to take action' over an anomaly in the definition of transmission lines that leaves Scottish generators exposed to substantially greater costs than their English and Welsh...

ELECTRICITY; Ministers drop plans for BNFL part-flotation.(British Nuclear Fuels)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... by Roger Milne The government has dropped plans for a part-flotation of British Nuclear Fuels, originally expected to be carried out as a Public/Private Partnership. The U-turn, announced last week, came as Michael Parker was named as...

Fancy undress.(British Telecommunications)
July 11, 2003... Courtesy primarily of a [pounds sterling]6 billion rights issue and some long overdue financial prudence, BT has at last overcome its debt crisis. Now investors are beginning to address the issue of growth, or the lack of it. After all,...

electricity; Banks ponder merger of generation assets.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... by Trevor Dooley Banks are hatching a move to offset their exposure to the downturn in the power generation market by creating a generation giant from assets acquired from borrowers' payment shortfalls. Banks including the Royal Bank...

GAS; Gazprom leans on Turkey.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Russian gas giant Gazprom has filed a case against Turkey at the internationally recognised Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce for refusing to buy natural gas from its recently completed e3 billion Blue Stream pipeline....

TELECOMS; Broadband not included as universal offer.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... The government has opted out of insisting broadband be made a universal service in a draft Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Order published in anticipation of the 25 July deadline for implementation of the European electronic...

TELECOMS; C&W set to sue Japan over NTT price hike.(Cable & Wireless)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Troubled telecoms company Cable & Wireless (C&W) could be set to sue the Japanese government after the country's dominant operator, NTT, was given leave to raise interconnection charges to rival carriers. C&W was understood to be pondering...

ENERGY; MPs urge CHP aid and tax changes.(Combined Heat and Power)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... MPs this week urged ministers to help green power and energy conservation by changing the government's energy tax and introducing a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) obligation. The calls came in a report by the Parliamentary Renewable and...

ELECTRICITY; CEZ new owner by 2006.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Czech power group CEZ has been slated for privatisation under a new plan being prepared by the Czech finance ministry. The ministry wants to sell 16.6 per cent of the company's shares this year, and by 2006 it wants to find a new owner for...

WATER; Aiming to please should be a target.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... The Drinking Water Inspectorate has said it wants customer satisfaction to be a quality target. Deputy chief inspector Claire Jackson announced on Tuesday that results for 2002 were the best ever: 99.87 per cent of the 2.9 million tests...

Information overload.(utility information management)
July 11, 2003... Energy companies now have to operate in a highly competitive marketplace that is strikingly different from the old monopoly world. The extensive foreign ownership of the UK's energy businesses is in many ways a result of this vast...

Deregulation diary.
July 11, 2003... Deregulation has certainly continued apace in recent months, not least thanks to the European Union decision to accelerate the deadlines for the complete opening of European energy markets. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's third European Energy...

GAS; Dong moves into German market and eyes Holland.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Danish gas utility Dong has unveiled plans to move into the German supply market for industrial users. The decision to set up the German subsidiary was taken in response to growing competition on its home patch. The company is also...

ELECTRICITY; Euro watchdog probe into Statkraft subsidy.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... by Gerard O'Dwyer The Norwegian parliament's approval of a government plan to inject e1.2 billion into energy group Statkraft may fall foul of European Union rules, according to a European treaty watchdog. The European Free Trade...

ELECTRICITY; ESB should be 'split or sold'.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... The Irish government should consider the break-up or privatisation of Ireland's electricity company ESB, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has urged. According to a report by the UN agency, ESB's dominance has deterred new entrants....

Save and spend.(Energy Saving Trust CEO Philip Sellwood)(Interview)
July 11, 2003... When I meet Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust (EST), we are both slightly hot and bothered. It's a muggy summer day and the air conditioning in the organisation's offices in Westminster has packed up. We drink a...

ENVIRONMENT; Detail of EU emissions trade scheme agreed.
July 11, 2003... by Keith Nuthall Utilities may have to start paying for the right to pollute as early as 2005, under a European Union emissions trading directive agreed by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. For the first three...

GAS; Gas Natural to reduce Enagas stake to 35%.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... The Spanish government has said it was close to fufilling its intentions to reduce Gas Natural's stake in gas transporter Enagas to less than 35 per cent from its current 40 per cent. In remarks made to Parliament, Spain's prime minister...

ENVIRONMENT; Human Rights plan to include environment.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is debating a plan to extend the European Convention on Human Rights to include a guarantee to European citizens of decent environmental standards. If carried forward, the proposal would...

ENERGY; Eon marches east with three deals.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Eon has increased its stakes in two Lithuanian energy suppliers and has signed a major supply contract with Hungary's Mol. The Dusseldorf company raised its holdings in Lithuania's RST and VST from 10.9 per cent to 18 per cent and 13 per...

ENERGY; Eon triples Scandinavian turnover.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Eon's Nordic subsidiary Eon Scandinavia generated a threefold rise in net profit to e228.2 million in 2002. Pre-tax profit rose by 42 percent to e55 million while operating profit increased by 41 per cent to e11.4 million. The rise was...

TELECOMS; Cesky advisor slammed for political ties.(Warren Partners)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Czech telephone operator Cesky Telecom has been criticised for appointing an adviser with political ties to help it buy out its joint venture partner in mobile operator Eurotel. Warren Partners is headed by Pedro Pick, who is close to...

Animal magnetism in the dark.
July 11, 2003... The great man is not over the moon at the prospect. Indeed, he views it as another irritant of modern life. The news that your mobile phone could be roaring like a lion or screaming like a barn owl is deeply worrying, thinks Disconnector. ...

ENERGY; Fortum sells its UK gas retail business.(Quantum Energy Group buys Fortum Energy)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Finnish multi-utility Fortum has completed the latest phase of its European reorganisation by selling its gas retail business in the UK, Fortum Energy, to Quantum Energy Group. Fortum's restructuring strategy is designed to re-focus the...

GAS; Court throws out tax break challenge.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... The European Free Trade Area (EFTA) Court has thrown out a bid by two environmental groups to stop the Norwegian government offering tax privileges to natural gas exploration companies working in the inhospitable Snohvit field, off the north...

GAS; GdF says VNG bid is still on the cards.(Gaz de France, Verbundnetz Gas)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... France's Gaz de France (GdF) has said it could win control of German supplier Verbundnetz Gas (VNG). Eon has to sell its 42 per cent stake in VNG, and it and the government were thought to favour a rival bid from Gazprom and Wintershall,...

WATER; Firms prepare to take off gloves over prices.
July 11, 2003... by Karma Ockenden The water industry is gearing up to make a case for significant price rises at the next periodic review. A source close to the industry said that, to date, dialogue between regulator Ofwat and the industry on...

Don't step on the gas.(UK gas supply)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Britain is running out of gas. According to Mary Fagan in the Sunday Telegraph, it is one of the biggest problems now facing the UK. The irony is that there is a lot of the stuff right on our doorstep. Norway is positively oozing gas and is...

GAS; Concern over interruptions.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... Exit capacity through the UK-Continent gas interconnector is excessive and should be scaled back, according to some of the companies affected by last month's unprecedented summertime interruptions to gas supplies. That was the view of the...

ELECTRICITY; Blackout sparks Enel to restart old stations.
July 11, 2003... by Simon Jones Italian energy giant Enel plans to reactivate 700MW of dormant capacity over the next few months in response to last month's power blackouts in Italy. A further 900MW capacity is to become available in the next two...

TELECOMS; Deutsche Telekom to cut local fees.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2003... German telecoms regulator RegTP has ordered a 23 per cent cut in the set-up fee Deutsche Telekom charges rival operators renting a local line. The move followed a reduction in Deutsche Telekom's monthly rental charges imposed by RegTP...

Money in the bank.(bank investments in utilities)
July 11, 2003... It is the banks that have been making the headlines in the utilities sector this week, even if the stories about them do not always have a 100 per cent ring of truth to them. Of the two stories involving banks on our news pages this week,...