Utility Week articles from June 2009

Utility Week archives from June 2009

News.
June 5, 2009... Meters made EDF Energy has joined buildings research organisation BRE in a research programme on smart meters. The energy company's meters have been installed in eco houses and other buildings at BRE's Innovation Park. Hot rocks in...

ELECTRICITYScottishPower starts carbon capture trial.(Features)
June 5, 2009... by Janet Wood ScottishPower has taken plans to install carbon capture and storage (CCS) at its Longannet plant a step forward by starting up a prototype facility at the plant. ScottishPower and parent Iberdrola hope Longannet will be...

waterPoor customers 'need tax and benefits help'.(News)
June 5, 2009... by Annabel Andrews Taxpayers should have a bigger role in funding the water industry, the chair of the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) told MPs this week. Speaking before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Dame...

Pan-utilityConnections down in housing slump.(News)
June 5, 2009... Utilities' connections businesses are being hit by the downturn as housing development stalls. Keith Harris, director of finance at Wessex Water, said the downturn was hitting profits. Infrastructure income was currently half the long-term...

ENERGYOfgem relaxed about supplier database.(News)
June 5, 2009... by Roger Milne Energy regulator Ofgem has insisted that it has no reason to be concerned about the award of domestic energy supply licences to organisations that appear to have little or no intention of marketing offerings to householders....

Critical issues.(Features)
June 5, 2009... EDF Energy's Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson tells Janet Wood a fleet of new nuclear plants could be here in ten years, if the long-term signals are right Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson has taken on perhaps the UK power industry's biggest challenge:...

ENERGY28pt headline in here like this.(News)
June 5, 2009... Cooling down: greenhouse gas emissions across the European Union declined for the third consecutive year in 2007, according to the latest figures from the European Environment Agency. Warmer weather and higher fuel prices were a major factor...

ENERGYCustomer satisfaction falls further.(News)
June 5, 2009... Customer satisfaction with their energy utilities has fallen over the past year, according to figures from the National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI). Satisfaction with energy utilities rated lower than that for airlines and mobile...

Fatal flaw in pipeline plans.(Features)
June 5, 2009... The three-horse race to build pipelines that will carry gas from Russia to the EU is ready to start. But will market forces render all three projects expensive white elephants? Keith Nuthall and Emma Jackson investigate If the competition...

waterAnglian vows strike will not affect users.(News)
June 5, 2009... Members of the GMB union at Anglian Water are to strike for one day on Monday (12 June) in protest at changes in working hours. The company said there would be no disruption to services. At issue is a new start time of 10am rather than 8am...

Clean power from deserts.(Features)
June 5, 2009... Sir: Janet Wood is quite right to express concerns about the environmental and social aspects of generating solar power in desert regions (Utility Week, 22 May). But there are fewer glib assumptions and airy wavings of the hand than she...

ELECTRICITYMinister rejects aid for new nuclear.(News)
June 5, 2009... The government has no intention of intervening in the carbon market to provide either a floor for carbon prices or special help for prospective new-build nuclear generators (perhaps in the shape of carbon contracts), energy minister Mike...

Elliot Morley to quit as MP.(Features)
June 5, 2009... As scandal racks Parliament, MPs have water issues, carbon trading and the Marine Bill on their minds The Palace of Westminster is back after a week's holiday in a chastened and sombre mood. Speculation about a government reshuffle was...

ENVIRONMENTScots to cut government emissions.(News)
June 5, 2009... The Scottish Government has announced a programme of action across 18 of its 45 buildings that will cut carbon emissions from its entire property portfolio by 20 per cent. The project is part of a carbon management plan designed to cut the...

Ofgem finds its teeth in battle with Grid.(Features)
June 5, 2009... At a time when Ofgem's confidence to let market forces prevail appears to be at an all time low, the recent decision by the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) to uphold the regulator's finding that National Grid acted in breach of competition...

waterPollution costs United Utilities a [pounds sterling]10,000 fine.(News)
June 5, 2009... Wigan magistrates have fined United Utilities [pounds sterling]10,000 plus [pounds sterling]2,967 costs for a pollution incident in September 2007. Over 5,000 cubic metres of sewage was discharged into Hey Brook in Abram, affecting...

Lock it upbolt it down.(Features)
June 5, 2009... Michael Miles describes how physical security is essential to protect utility infrastructure from terrorists, espionage, theft and misadventure IT and data security, biometrics, closed-circuit television, global positioning systems and...

ELECTRICITYVattenfall delays UK nuclear plans.(News)
June 5, 2009... Swedish utility Vattenfall has announced that it will delay by up to 18 months its plans to build a nuclear power plant in the UK. Chief executive Lars Josefsson said the economic downturn had affected Vattenfall's investment programme...

ENERGYPioneering biogas project wins funding.(News)
June 12, 2009... National Grid and United Utilities' pioneering biogas venture based at a wastewater treatment plant in Manchester is set to be one of five projects that will benefit from a government fund to support schemes producing energy from organic waste....

Cloning nuclear plants?(Early Section)
June 12, 2009... The British government's strategy for the revival of the nuclear power industry is as ambitious as its plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions. A vigorous Department for Energy and Climate Change has published the names of 11 sites where new...

Bord Gais Energy replaces CIS system.(Early Section)
June 12, 2009... Bord Gais Energy, the retail arm of Republic of Ireland energy company Bord Gais Eireann, has replaced its legacy customer information system (CIS) with Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing to manage gas and electricity supplies to its...

News.
June 12, 2009... ScottishPower has begun consulting with local people on plans to replace its Cockenzie coal-fired power station with a combined cycle gas turbine. Richard Escott, head of project development at ScottishPower, told newspapers in Scotland that...

See for yourself.(Early Section)
June 12, 2009... Integrating geographic intelligence into a utility-wide ERP system can pay dividends in operational efficiency, says Nick Jones Higher levels of regulatory benchmarking of utilities over recent years have forced organisations to give closer...

Billing software for charging electric cars.(Early Section)
June 12, 2009... Software for monitoring and invoicing electricity drawn from vehicle charging stations has been developed and launched into the market by Elektromotive. Called EBConnect, the system makes it easy to identify energy consumption and bill...

News.
June 12, 2009... Just foolin' around: playtime won't be the same again for children in Rochdale after the creation of a ground-breaking 'natural' playground. The [pounds sterling]40,000 facility has been created at Newhey Community Primary School and offers a...

Decision time.(Features)
June 12, 2009... Large gas storage projects are having a hard time under the current planning regime . Mothiur Rahman hopes the IPC will resolve the problemse_SClB In the face of declining North Sea gas production, the UK's limited gas storage capacity and...

IMServ helps companies cut their energy demand.(Early Section)
June 12, 2009... Leading energy meter data collector and processor IMserv has launched a carbon and energy management service designed to help users measure and reduce energy consumption. Building on IMServ's expertise in meter data collection, the new...

The energy industry must sort out wires access itself.(Features)
June 12, 2009... Investors need stability. If those investors are generators (whether investing on their own balance sheet or using it to leverage investment from others), that still holds true. Even if they agree on nothing else, generating companies producing...

ELECTRICITYOfgem calls for action to address liquidity.(News)
June 12, 2009... by Janet Wood Ofgem has opened a debate about how to improve liquidity in the British energy market with a discussion paper laying out the problem and potential solutions. In its paper, Ofgem acknowledged that liquidity in the British...

PAN-UTILITYNJUG blasts London permit scheme.(News)
June 12, 2009... A streetworks permitting scheme for the capital put forward by Transport for London (TFL) fails in important respects, the National Joint Utilities Group (NJUG) has said. The permit scheme, set up under the Traffic Management Act, has yet...

Air pollution trading light.(Features)
June 12, 2009... Trading has been light in the first year (2008) of the national emissions reduction plan (Nerp), an air pollution trading scheme overseen by the Environment Agency for power stations, refineries and large combustion plant. That is the...

ELECTRICITYNuclear site for sale at Sellafield.(News)
June 12, 2009... The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has put up for sale land at the Sellafield site in Cumbria. The NDA sold three other sites to potential new nuclear power plant developers earlier this year for [pounds sterling]387 million. ...

Wire we waiting?(Features)
June 12, 2009... A revolution is coming, and National Grid needs to start upgrading the network now, Nick Winser tells Steve Hobson Since the phenomenon of global warming was linked to carbon dioxide emissions, heading off climate change - along with...

Oracle Utilities gets smart on grids.(Early Section)
June 12, 2009... Oracle Utilities has introduced an end-to-end suite of smart grid software that "offers a pragmatic approach to smart grid deployment" by supporting utilities as they work to optimise the value of their smart grid components while advancing...

Knowledge is power.(News)
June 12, 2009... Fast-emerging renewables and nuclear need a highly skilled workforce and knowledge development programmes provide the key, says Mary Clarke In contrast to the general economy, where redundancies are daily news, the utility sector is...

Biomass is ready to*play its part.(Features)
June 12, 2009... Forty years is a long time, half a lifetime even. But over 40 per cent of the UK's current generation capacity was running, in construction or in advanced planning, 40 years ago, and almost no capacity of that vintage or younger has yet been...

The dark side of social media.(Early Section)
June 12, 2009... While many utility industry businesses are enraptured with the promotional power of social media, they also need to grasp its perilous darker side, and its ability to damage or destroy a business with a few, choice mouse-clicks. Domino's...

Early Section.
June 12, 2009... Take viruses seriously Every day we as a company are reaching 30,000 new pieces of malicious computer coding or software. That includes viruses, Trojans and worms - many of which might go unnoticed, but a worrying number can cause problems...

waterWFD implementation 'will raise emissions'.(News)
June 12, 2009... by Annabel Andrews The implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) should be frozen while the UK government and the European Union consider its carbon impact, Severn Trent Water has told MPs. The company's comments to the...

Winded sector.(Features)
June 12, 2009... The once-booming wind generation market is faltering as the credit crunch bites . Janet Wood assesses its short and long-term prospects Over the past few years, wind power has blown further into the European Union's energy mainstream. In...

News.
June 19, 2009... School's out: these ever so slightly insouciant Warrington teens could yet prove to be the future. Contractor Morgan EST has teamed up with five schools around the country to encourage students to consider civil engineering. These are visiting...

Central issues.(Features)
June 19, 2009... The UK energy market is different from any other in the world and needs a bespoke smart meter solution, say Jason Brogden and Tom Hainey Like all other European countries, Malta is facing the challenge of delivering affordable, secure...

First things first.(Features)
June 19, 2009... Does smart energy metering need a large, expensive, central communications infrastructure? Not according to First Utility . Steve Hobson reports Anyone who has waded through the Energy Retail Association's 200-page Supplier Requirements...

ELECTRICITYNuclear developers plead for carbon price support.(News)
June 19, 2009... The UK's leading developers of new nuclear used a meeting in London last week to plead for more clarity on energy policy and support for the carbon price. Speaking at the Nuclear Industry Forum, Eon UK chief executive Paul Golby said: "The...

waterRethink agency's flood powers, urges Ofwat.(News)
June 19, 2009... by Annabel Andrews The draft Flood and Water Management Bill gives the Environment Agency too much power and could cause significant difficulties for water regulation, regulator Ofwat has told MPs. In evidence to the Environment, Food...

PAN-UTILITYHendry confirms Tory plan to axe new IPC.(News)
June 19, 2009... by Roger Milne A Conservative administration would axe the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) and use the independent Planning Inspectorate to deal with nationally important schemes, shadow energy minister Charles Hendry has...

Energy bills and tariffs under fire.(Features)
June 19, 2009... Ministers are taken to task over fuel poverty, while suppliers are criticised over tariffs and billing MPs last week demanded simpler and fewer domestic energy tariffs and clearer information on bills, a call echoed by energy and climate...

ENERGYScots want more of spend on efficiency.(News)
June 19, 2009... The Scottish Government has published a strategy to ensure that more domestic energy efficiency improvements made by utilities benefit consumers north of the border. It said Scottish consumers should have had 22 per cent more of the investment...

Smart meters leave water cold.(Features)
June 19, 2009... Water companies are trialling the use of smart meters, but Ofwat is sceptical that the benefits on offer would justify the costs, even if the technical difficulties could be ironed out to make widespread deployment viable. Steve Hobson reports...

ENERGYPioneering system will supply biogas by 2011.(News)
June 19, 2009... Biogas produced from wastewater sludge should be supplying 500 Manchester homes within two years, the two utility firms involved confirmed this week. That's the plan according to National Grid and United Utilities, who have begun work on a...

ELECTRICITYLocal groups against wind form alliance.(News)
June 19, 2009... Local anti-wind groups have combined in a National Alliance of Windfarm Action Groups (Nawag). The alliance brings together 30 local groups, but said it hoped up to 200 groups would join. It said its aim was to "create a powerful and...

ENERGYSmart meters could use US 'mesh'.(News)
June 19, 2009... A wireless mesh communications system that is being widely adopted by US utilities could be used for the UK's smart metering central communications infrastructure. It could also solve the problem of how to control electricity distribution...

ELECTRICITYWylfa to keep operating until 2011.(News)
June 19, 2009... The Wylfa nuclear power station in Anglesey has been given permission to continue generating until at least 2011. The power station, which was due to close in March next year, is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. It meets 40...