Utility Week articles from June 2004

Utility Week archives from June 2004

eNERGY; Efficiency could slash bills.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Ofgem has insisted that savings of 9-15 per cent on energy bills are in prospect for domestic customers who opt for a long-term energy contract that includes energy efficiency measures. The claim by the regulator surfaced as a two-year...

Three line blip.
June 11, 2004... Will 2004 be the year that third generation (3G) mobile telecoms services finally take off in Britain? After much delay, there are, at last, signs that 3G is ready for the market. While Hutchison 3G remains the only fully commercial 3G operator...

TELECOMS; BT faces cut in network fee.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Communications regulator Ofcom has proposed BT cut the charges it levies on rival telecoms resellers to use its network. The charges are levied on carrier pre-select operators and indirect access operators using BT Wholesale's network to...

ELECTRICITY; Plant deals sink bank group power project.
June 11, 2004... by Trevor Dooley CGE Power, the banking consortium formed to buy struggling power stations - has withdrawn from the market after failing to acquire either Damhead Creek or Killingholme. They went to ScottishPower and Centrica respectively....

TELECOMS; C&W reinstates dividend as net loss falls to [pounds sterling]237m.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Telecoms operator Cable & Wireless (C&W),which last year posted a net loss of [pounds sterling]6.5 billion, has reinstated its dividend and announced a pre-tax profit for the year to March 2004 of [pounds sterling]317 million, compared with...

TELECOMS; Deutsche Telekom tariff blocked by regulator.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... German telecoms operator Deutsche Telekom has been rapped by telecoms regulator RegTP for offering 'unlawful' discounts in its new '10 cent' fixed line call tariff. RegTP president Matthias Kurth rejected the tariff, saying that it was...

Keep the home ; fires burning.
June 11, 2004... Last year thousands of people in London and Birmingham had to contend with power outages. Fortunately, the power cuts did not last long. But they were a stark reminder that without reliable energy supplies, we cannot keep this country working,...

ENERGY; Centrica takes axe to 850 management jobs.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... by Roger Milne Energy giant Centrica has axed 850 jobs, mostly at group corporate level, as part of a move to shed 1,450 positions. The group currently employs 39,000 staff in the UK. This 'delayering exercise', which the company...

ENERGY; Carbon cuts 'should not be a priority'.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... A group of eight top international economists have poured cold water on the European Commission's insistence that early action to cut greenhouse gas emissions should be a priority. The economists, meeting in Copenhagen, were asked to rank...

PAN-UTILITY; Study uncovers growth in favour of online markets.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Better links with suppliers and clearer transactions were among gains to buyers from online marketplaces, according to a survey backed by information technology giant Oracle and BT. Findings from the research showed that users of online...

ELECTRICITY; Grid companies slam new EU law.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Europe's electricity grid companies have heavily criticised a proposed new European Union directive on security of supply and infrastructure investment. The planned legislation was 'inappropriate, contradictory, overly bureaucratic and...

WATER; Ecofin hunts investments with water as key target.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Investment company Ecofin Water and Power Opportunities has unveiled plans to raise capital to fund an expansion of its presence in the UK utility market. Chairman Martin Negre said Ecofin would hold fire on a share issue in the short term...

TELECOMS; Eircom slams government 'barriers'.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Ireland's dominant fixed-line telecoms operator, Eircom, last week slammed 'significant commercial barriers' to entering the mobile re-selling market in the country. Chief executive Philip Nolan said the government 'would have to have a...

ELECTRICITY; Endesa open to merger to form national giant.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Spain's biggest electricity company, Endesa, has revealed that it is willing to consider merging with Gas Natural and the country's biggest water company, Aguas de Barcelona (Agbar). Speaking at a conference in Madrid, Endesa chairman...

ENERGY; Fossil fuels will grow despite green efforts.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... by Keith Nuthall The dominance of fossil fuels in power generation is set to continue for 30 years, and may even grow, the European Environment Agency (EEA) forecast in a report published last week. Despite the European Union's efforts...

Dirty tactics on clean beaches.
June 11, 2004... What goes around comes around. Disconnector was intrigued to learn that Brussels is starting to get a tad miffed about the number of inland freshwater beaches which are being declassified so they don't have to comply with the legislation on...

eLECTRICITY; Green generator recycles [pounds sterling]70m debt.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Renewables generator Energy Power Resources (EPRL), Britain's biggest biomass energy company, has completed a debt rescheduling on two of its major UK schemes - its straw-fired plant at Ely, Cambridgeshire, and its Scottish poultry-litter...

GAS; Probe into price rises; widens and deepens.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... by Roger Milne Ofgem has opened up a second front in its preliminary investigations into high gas prices, a process which may yet prompt a full-scale statutory inquiry. The latest probe centres on concern about the significant...

ENERGY; EnBW in court battle over emissions plan.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... by Simon Jones Energie Baden-Wurttemberg (EnBW) has made good its threat to challenge in the Federal Constitutional Court the German government's emissions permit allocations under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. The...

ELECTRICITY; Norway: fund mooted to keep foreigners out.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... by Gerard O'Dwyer Labour, Norway's largest opposition party in Parliament, has tabled a Bill calling for a state-managed fund capitalised at e4 billion to acquire all non-state-owned hydro assets, including hydro asset management and...

TELECOMS; Virgin Mobile satisfies its customers.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Mobile telecoms reseller Virgin Mobile has come top of a customer satisfaction survey in its first year of inclusion. The company ranked highest among prepay providers, according to a study by researchers JD Power and Associates. Virgin,...

The French resistance.
June 11, 2004... Workers at Electricite de France went on strike a week ago in protest at the impending privatisation of the giant organisation. After privatisation, of course, comes the liberalisation of the energy market and the entrance of competitors to...

Loss ; cause.
June 11, 2004... Think London water, think Thames Water, and many people will inevitably think of leaks. London's water infrastructure is among the oldest in the country, much of it more than 100 years old. John Duffy is a policy director for London mayor...

ELECTRICITY; Ministers draw line under further Magnox operations.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Ministers have said that the proposed Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will not operate any of the UK's ageing Magnox nuclear plant beyond a maximum of five years. The assurance came from energy minister Stephen Timms and...

Competition needs direct sales.
June 11, 2004... Direct sales is the most effective means of acquiring domestic energy customers, according to the latest market research data quoted by the most recent edition of the Electricity Industry Review. The review highlighted the fact that...

Pennon Group.
June 11, 2004... by Zoe Grainge After backing out of the complex three-way bidding race involving Terra Firma and Shanks, Pennon, the holding company for South West Water and Viridor, posted aborted acquisition costs of [pounds sterling]9 million in its...

Delivering skills for utilities.
June 11, 2004... If businesses are to attract, recruit, train and develop the people they need, they require strong support. Energy & Utility Skills (EU Skills), the new Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the electricity, gas, waste management and water...

Fuel price rises stoke new fears.
June 11, 2004... Parliamentarians are back in business after the Whitsun recess with all eyes on the Chancellor as he considers his room for manoeuvre vis a vis oil prices, petrol duty and the prospect of another round of fuel protests. Trade and Industry...

GAS; Ofgem picks network sale agency model.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Ofgem has announced the governance scheme it expects the gas industry to adopt to deal with the fragmentation of gas distribution after the projected sale of some of Transco's local networks. Under consideration were seven options for a new...

WATER; Greek Cyprus gets e235m funding boost.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... European Union anger over the failure of the Greek Cypriot government of southern Cyprus to support reunification with its Turkish neighbours showed signs of cooling last week. The European Investment Bank said it would provide Cyprus with...

ELECTRICITY; Scots unveil a [pounds sterling]400m wires expansion.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... ScottishPower has unveiled a [pounds sterling]400 million plan to upgrade transmission lines on both sides of the Border to meet the anticipated need for more capacity created by expansion in wind power and other renewable generation. The...

eLECTRICITY; Move to close green energy fund loophole.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... The government has signalled it is prepared to accept an amendment to the Energy Bill, currently at committee stage in the Commons, which would close one of the loopholes in the current arrangements for a 'green certificate' fund designed to...

ENERGY; RWEand Eon stamp their names on UKsubsidiaries.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... The UK's two German-owned energy companies, Powergen and Innogy, have rebranded. Powergen's owner, Eon, has renamed its industrial and commercial supply operation Eon Energy but will continue to use the Powergen brand on its domestic...

eLECTRICITY; Non-wind schemes need flexible help.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Green generators have stepped up their pressure on the government for revenue-based and technology-specific transitional help for non-wind energy schemes. Energy minister Stephen Timms has been urged to come up with new measures targeting...

TELECOMS; Mobile stake boosts Vivendi credit rating.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... France's number two mobile telecoms operator, SFR, has boosted parent company Vivendi Universal's credit rating back to investment grade status. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's raised the rating based on the solid performance of the...

Get out more.
June 11, 2004... Competitive metering has brought benefits but a more active outsourcing push is still needed . David Lee reports. Competition has been publicly recognised by Ofgem as the best way to encourage innovation and improvement in metering and...

ELECTRICITY; Slovakia to complete distributor sell-offs.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... by Mark Andress The Slovak government last week agreed to sell 51 per cent of the country's largest power distributor, ZSE, combining a direct sale to Germany's Eon Energie with a flotation on the Bratislava stock exchange. Eon...

ENERGY; ScottishPower bags top prize.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... ScottishPower has picked up a top international award for its customer service and financial performance. The Glasgow-based company won the Edison Award presented by the USEdison Electric Institute (EEI) to USshareholder-owned and...

WATER; Spain site changes prompt EC probe.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... The European Commission has begun an inquiry into Spain's decision to declassify a large number of its inland bathing sites. The probe came as the latest European Union (EU) figures showed the highest overall compliance rates yet, with 98.6...

TELECOMS; Telewest inches closer to swap deal.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Cable operator Telewest moved a step closer to finalising its lengthy [pounds sterling]3.5 billion debt-for-equity swap after creditors approved the company's restructuring plan, which would give them control of the company in exchange for...

TELECOMS; Tele2 clashes with Cesky over prices.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Swedish telecoms company Tele2 was last week planning to take the Czech Republic to arbitration, claiming that Czech dominant fixed-line operator Cesky Telecom was acting anti-competitively in tying customers to its service with the offer of...

TELECOMS; Investment flees state involvement.(European Competitive Telecoms Association)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Telecoms investors are targeting countries where the state has least involvement in the dominant operator, according to a survey by the European Competitive Telecoms Association (Ecta). According to Ecta, Britain, Denmark and Ireland were...

WATER; Thames unveils plans for [pounds sterling]200m desalination plant.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Thames Water has announced plans to build London's first full-scale desalination plant at a cost of [pounds sterling]200 million. The energy-efficient works will convert salt water from the tidal Thames in East London, into drinking water...

ELECTRICITY; Vattenfall eyes oil plant as demand rises.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Vattenfall is exploring a new strategy to meet future increased demand for electricity in Sweden by reactivating oil-fired units. The plan is part of a wider programme of making additional capacity available to the marketplace from the...

WATER; WaterVoice calls for [pounds sterling]70 rises to be cut by a third.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Customer watchdog WaterVoice has demanded the average [pounds sterling]70 price increase in 2005-10 be reduced by at least one-third. In an open letter to the government and Ofwat, chairman Maurice Terry said he was 'dismayed' the strategic...

WATER; Refocus on water lifts companies' year-end results.
June 11, 2004... by Karma Ockenden The water sector has reaped rewards from ditching its dalliance with diversification. Results for the year to 31 March 2004, reported by companies over the last couple of weeks, showed performance improvement on the back...

Return of the natives.(Column)
June 11, 2004... Winback campaigns are key to many companies' acquisition strategies . Salman Wasti asks, how long can this go on? UK energy suppliers have been focusing on winning back former customers who have switched. Many switchers find they are...

TELECOMS; Rural web rules 'up prices'.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Governments forcing telecoms operators to make broadband services available to rural and remote areas are jeopardising competition in the sector, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Making such...

ENERGY; Suppliers are missing young family market.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... by Paul Garrett Young families are a lucrative segment for energy retailers but have not been targeted properly, according to a report by market analyst Datamonitor. In its report, Marketing Energy to Young Families, Datamonitor said...

ONE.(Professional Energy Services Limited)(Interview)
June 11, 2004... minute interview Name Patricia Paech Company Professional Energy Services Limited Job title National account manager time in current job 12 months What's the best part of your job and why? ...

Leading lights.
June 11, 2004... There has been a changing of the guard at the upper echelons of Europe's top utilities and telecoms companies as a new management generation assumes control. The trend is partly age-related but it is also due to the departure of some chief...

Balancing ; hacked.(International Accounting Standards)(public utilities)
June 18, 2004... International Accounting Standards (IAS) is not a subject likely to make you sit upright in your chair at 9:00am in the morning, but that is just what happened when Kelda made a presentation to a packed house of City analysts in York recently....

ENERGY; BG's Kazakhstan project back on line.(BG Group PLC)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Production from BG Group's Karachaganak oil and gas condensate field, a joint venture with other oil and gas majors, has resumed, the company reported last week. Development of the scheme in Kazakhstan has been dogged by technical...

ELECTRICITY; BNFL posts loss despite exceeding output targets.(British Nuclear Fuels Ltd.)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Lower wholesale electricity prices made a significant contribution to worsening operating losses at British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) for the year ended 31 March 2004. The state-owned company's remaining Magnox power stations exceeded internal...

Cheap and cheerful.(customer service improvements)
June 18, 2004... Within any organisation there is always the opportunity to do things better. The issue is not whether it can be improved, but whether the cost of the improvement can be justified. In today's markets, where the economy is beginning to show a few...

TELECOMS; BT revamp sparks access row.(British Telecom)
June 18, 2004... by Zoe Grainge BT has announced plans to roll out a '21st century network' amid calls from rival operators for equal access. BT last week set out a five-year timetable to build the infrastructure for the next generation of converged...

ELECTRICITY; Price recovery - don't bank on it.(CGE Power banking)
June 18, 2004... by Trevor Dooley Last week's demise of the CGE Power banking consortium, which earlier promised to be the saviour of struggling merchant power projects in the UK, has been seen as a sign of improving prospects for the independent...

PAN-UTILITY; Water awash with awards.(Queens's Birthday Honours)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... The water industry made a splash at this year's Queen's Birthday Honours, taking the lion's share of awards won by utility people. The top honour of Knights Bachelor went to BNFL chairman Hugh Collum and Vodafone's chief operating officer...

Don't be left on the bench.(competition in the generation industry)
June 18, 2004... Europe-wide deregulation of electricity markets ushered in more intense competitive conditions for the generation industry. In response, many generators have cut costs dramatically in the past five years - in some cases by more than 20 per...

eNERGY; MPs vote for primary green duty for Gema.(Member of Parliament, Gas and Electricity Markets Authority)
June 18, 2004... by Roger Milne Parliament has voted to make the promotion of renewable energy the primary statutory function of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (Gema) in a move that has embarrassed ministers, caused consternation in the industry...

ELECTRICITY; D-day looms over blackouts.(United Kingdom Office of Gas and Electricity Markets investigates national Grid Transco)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... The energy regulator is close to deciding whether to penalise National Grid Transco and possibly former Midland distribution network operator Aquila over last year's blackouts in London and Birmingham. Utility Week understands that the...

ENERGY; CEZ warns of coal plant shutdown.(Ceske Energeticke Zavody)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Czech electricity company CEZ has warned that it will have to close some of its coal-fired plants if the environment ministry's draft greenhouse gas emission proposal for the energy sector in 2005-07 becomes law. The plan, published on 3...

TELECOMS; Cesky Mobil sues rivals over price discrimination.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Cesky Mobil, the Czech Republic's third-biggest mobile phone operator, last week filed a lawsuit against its two rivals for damages it suffered because of alleged price discrimination in 2000 and 2001. Cesky Mobil - branded as Oskar - was...

ENERGY; Open market flawed, says Spain's regulator.(National Energy Commission)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... by Ivan Castano Spain's energy regulator, CNE, is poised to outline a string of problems about the liberalisation of the country's power market in a report to be released later this month, a spokesman for the watchdog told Utility Week....

WATER; Debt nurtures Glas but stings Northumbrian.
June 18, 2004... by Karma Ockenden Debt finance can have mixed blessings - as the year-end results of two highly geared water companies revealed last week. Glas Cymru's gambit to ditch shareholders and run Welsh Water for customer benefit through debt...

ELECTRICITY; Dithering puts Dutch in limbo.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... The Dutch electricity sector was 'in limbo' because privatisation decisions with potentially far-reaching implications had followed an uncertain timeline. A report by ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) said decisions regarding the...

ELECTRICITY; Bank unveils plans to boost green finance.(European Investment Bank)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... by Alan Osborn The European Investment Bank (EIB) has unveiled plans to ramp up its support for renewable energy, with a pledge to increase its lending for such projects to up to 50 per cent of its total financing for electricity...

energy; Europe's utilities ripe for investment.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Energy liberalisation, more transparent regulation and corporate restructurings have made investment in European utility companies attractive, according to investor Ecofin Water and Power Opportunities. The company said it expected national...

TELECOMS; Energis grows profits to hit comeback trail.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Former telecoms darling Energis began its comeback this week, announcing underlying profits for the year to March 2004 up 21 per cent to [pounds sterling]125 million. Energis, which went into bankruptcy two years ago and is now owned by...

ENERGY; French unions soften to win support.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... In a bid to garner public support, power workers in France have devised industrial action that is less damaging to the population. The unions are protesting against threats to long-held privileges posed by market liberalisation. Last week,...

Wind turbines ate my cloud!(farmers in India try to sabotage wind turbines because they blame them for lack of rain in their region; Institution of Civil Engineers predicts waste crisis; Shell advertising; Transco bans employees from displaying flags; Matt Bross quote)
June 18, 2004... Given the success of the anti-turbine lobby in blocking windfarms, the great man hesitates to reveal the following. Farmers in Maharashtra, a drought-ridden central state in India, are blaming wind machines for the region's lack of rain....

Ready for business.
June 18, 2004... Hull-based telecoms company Kingston Communications celebrates its centenary this year, and what an eventful life it has had. When BT was formed into the country's national telephone company, only Kingston Communications was allowed to retain...

ELECTRICITY; Brussels okays first atom plant in decade.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... The European Commission has given the green light to a proposed new nuclear power plant in Finland. The 1.6GW plant is the first to be ordered in the European Union for more than ten years. Construction will start next year to begin...

GAS; Dependency on imports a risk to security.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... The projected near doubling of gas imports to meet growing demand in western Europe between 2000 and 2030 will threaten security of supply, a report from a top United Nations body has warned. According to the International Energy Agency,...

ENERGY; New German regime could raise fuel prices.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Higher prices and increasing volatility in the German electricity and gas markets have been forecast as the German government prepares to debate draft legislation implementing new regulation and the role of an energy regulator. Ratings...

ELECTRICITY; Spanish government in power game.(Red Electrica de Espana S.A. (REE) boss may be removed)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Moves to oust the chairman of Spain's power transmission firm Red Electrica(REE)emerged this week. The move has been interpreted as a bid by the government to up its power sector influence. If successful, the power companies could see their...

WATER; New clean-up bill warning.(WaterVoice)
June 18, 2004... by Karma Ockenden Water customers should pay no more than 15 per cent of the cost of protecting groundwater quality, WaterVoice has declared. The customer representative said that leaking mains and sewers accounted for only half of the...

ENERGY; Energy faces axe from constitution.(European Union)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Voter scepticism towards the European constitution emerging from the European parliamentary elections, plus the looming deadline of the inter-governmental summit to ratify the constitution, could kill the inclusion of an energy chapter, say...

TELECOMS; FT launches internet voice across France.(France Telecom)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... French state-controlled telecoms operator France Telecom has announced plans to launch a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) call service for local and national calls for customers of its Wanadoo internet subsidiary in France. The company...

Power bills to rise.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Gas and electricity bills are likely to rise, according to a new study by consultants John Hall Associates. Increases of up to 40 per cent for electricity and 25 per cent for gas are the likely consequence of rising oil prices and EU measures...

ENERGY; Energywatch slams networks.
June 18, 2004... by Trevor Dooley The newly established team for small businesses at customer watchdog Energywatch came out guns blazing this week with attacks on the distribution companies to follow its earlier broadside against suppliers. Speaking...

Compare and contrast.
June 18, 2004... Two different takes on the perennial issue of utility mergers and acquisitions were aired at last week's Strategic Planning Society conference in London. And if utility consolidation and restructuring appears to have gone quiet lately (witness...

ELECTRICITY; Dry run fuels Nordic price rise forecasts.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... by Gerard O'Dwyer Low rainfall and falling reservoir levels have fuelled significant electricity price rises in Norway and Sweden, with most generators forecasting average price rises of 15 per cent over the next three months. 'The...

Economics of offshore wind.
June 18, 2004... Green generators have told ministers that future offshore wind projects would benefit from capital grants like those made available for round one schemes. The Department of Trade and Industry has so far refused to rule in or rule out such help...