Utility Week articles from March 2002

Utility Week archives from March 2002

WATER; Anglian fined ?190,000 for sewage spills.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Anglian Water has been fined ?190,000 and ordered to pay costs of nearly ?14,000 after repeatedly polluting a local watercourse. Anglian pleaded guilty to six charges of causing sludge to be discharged from its Stewartby sewage treatment...

GAS; BG bores well but lights no flames.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... BG Group's results this week held neither surprises nor shocks for the City but were seen as a steady consolidation of its core business activities around exploration and production (E&P), analysts said. BG's earnings per share at 13.3p...

TELECOMS; BTbroadband price axe set for green light.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Telecoms regulator Oftel is almost certain to approve BT's 40 per cent cut to its wholesale broadband prices, despite the opposition of BT's few remaining competitors in the area. David Edmonds, director general of Oftel, said although BT's...

ENERGY; Centrica looks west as it grows in US.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... by Sumi Sastri Centrica is well funded for expansion in US and has its eye on further acquisitions after the completion this week of its purchase of NewPower Holdings for ?87 million, according to analysts. 'This is a cash generative...

telecoms; Colt to cut back spending and staff.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Colt Telecom is to slice 35 per cent off this year's spending plans and shed one-tenth of its 5,000-strong European workforce to help it survive slowing wholesale broadband demand, it announced at its full-year results. Revenue for the...

WATER; Sceptics hit by retail competition blueprint.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... by Karma Ockenden Centrica and information technology firm Logica have dealt a blow to those who dismiss retail competition in water as too difficult by producing a blueprint of how it might work. The companies' plan said incumbent...

WATER; Defra divide delays pollution policy.(Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... An internal wrangle at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is holding up the formation of a strategy for dealing with diffuse pollution, according to sources close to the government. The environment staff at...

energy; Skills shortage hits fuel poor plans.(Home Energy Efficiency Scheme)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The government's flagship energy efficiency programme targeting fuel poor households, currently recovering from the problems caused by the national shortage of heating engineers, is facing a new challenge. According to Chris Leek, a...

MULTI-UTILITies; Ecofin grabs holdings in Bristol and Ondeo.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... by Karma Ockenden A hungry new investor burst on to the utility scene on Tuesday as Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities (EWPO) floated on the London Stock Exchange and immediately grabbed sizeable stakes in Bristol Water and Ondeo. ...

environment; Trading auction delayed two weeks.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The incentive auction for entry into the UK emissions trading scheme has been delayed for a fortnight. There will be no change in the start of trading, due in April, but bidding, which should have started on Monday, has been postponed by two...

TELECOMS; New backers may be last hope for Energis.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... by Sumi Sastri Troubled alternative telecoms carrier Energis was this week trying to woo investors - including its former chief executive Mike Grabiner - even as it descended closer to collapse, bankers said. Energis said it would sell...

PAN-UTILITY; ScottishPower and Lattice top green ranking.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Business in the Environment's (BiE) environment index features ScottishPower and Lattice in joint first place alongside computer giant IBM. Water companies occupied four of the top 20 slots in the index. Innogy also scored highly among...

Mangled English, crashed telco.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... It surely can't be long before the inevitable happens. Steam radio's longest-running 'soap' (aka The Archers) will have to have a storyline involving a community renewable energy scheme. Why is the Great Man so sure? Well, the government is...

Energis up for grabs?(Mike Grabiner)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Mike Grabiner could be about to launch an 'audacious' bid for his former employer, struggling telecoms company Energis, according to the Guardian. The newspaper was not alone in speculating that Mr Grabiner, who recently joined venture...

ENERGY; ScotPower turns on TVswitch bid.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... ScottishPower is to enable customers to sign on to its electricity and gas supply deals using interactive TV. Utilities have attempted to entice customers to switch supplier on the internet, but with little success, according to market...

ELECTRICITY; NIEwarms to Ofreg price control plans.(Northern Ireland Electricity)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Northern Ireland energy regulator Ofreg's consultation on price controls on Northern Ireland Electricity's power procurement business and its transmission system operator have been greeted as 'presenting no insurmountable problems', by the...

The bigger they are?(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... When it comes to big utilities crashing in a spectacular fashion, the phenomenon isn't confined to Enron. The circumstances are entirely different, of course, but the demise of Energis illustrates yet again how the most vaunted of utilities,...

Free the market.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Sir: a news story in your magazine (Utility Week, 22 February) gives the impression that I advocate price ceilings as high as ?4,000/MWh along with the abandonment of capacity requirements. While the Nera article upon which your piece is based...

ENERGY; Can the UK stay afloat?(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... by Trevor Dooley Liberalisation is creating new opportunities for utilities in already open markets to sell their expertise. It is also generating openings for suppliers to utilities. But as markets get bigger, players need the stature to...

Electricity: Peer pressure to stay nuclear.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Ministers have been urged by the House of Lords to retain Britain's existing civil nuclear power capability and ensure it meets at least 20 per cent of UK electricity demand. The call came in a report by a House of Lords Select Committee on...

Vodafone Group.
March 1, 2002... by Richard Orange With 100 million customers in 29 countries, Vodafone is the largest mobile phone company in the world. And its preference for expanding through acquisition by issuing new shares rather than paying cash has allowed it to...

ELECTRICITY; Ofreg unveils subsidy plan for wind.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Northern Ireland energy regulator Ofreg has proposed a subsidy for wind power to be borne directly by customers. And Northern Ireland Electricity has called on the industry to back the proposal if it can be shown to be cheaper than an...

TELECOMS; NTLto sell off Australian broadcaster.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Ailing cable operator NTL is to sell its Australian broadcasting division for ?265 million in an attempt to cut its ?12 billion debt pile. Analysts said this was the first sign that non-core assets would be sold. In an all-cash deal,...

gas; Coal mine gas gets onshore licence boost.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Two-thirds of the most recent crop of licences offered by the government to companies to develop the UK's onshore oil and gas resources are targeted at those concentrating on gas from coal mines, it has emerged. According to the Department...

Get to the front of the queue.
March 1, 2002... Pensions have become a strategic issue and boards should sit up and take notice . By Paul Cook and Richard Anthony. The issue of pensions has long been a sensitive one in the utility industries. The history of generous defined benefit...

Enron couldn't happen here.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Energy minister Brian Wilson has been banging the drum again about unscrupulous sales practices. He has endorsed the 'Stop Now' campaign recently launched by Energywatch. He has also made veiled threats of ministerial intervention, as yet...

ENERGY; Powergen shifts up a gear on Eon takeover.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... by Richard Orange Powergen is to adopt an unorthodox scheme to speed up shareholder approval for the ?5 billion takeover by Eon. Powergen has rejected the standard practice of shareholders voting individually to sell their shares in...

Telecoms battered again.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... by Trevor Dooley An eventful week: investors dashing for cover as the telecoms sector took a battering while a marauding predator and a flurry of results sent the energy sector into a whirl. The prospect of a bid for Innogy from German...

WATER: Prospect of a patchy industry grows.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The prospect of a patchwork of structures in the water industry unfurled last week when Ofwat gave the green light to Southern Water's refinancing and it emerged that the government lacked firm thinking on the way the industry should be...

PAN-UTILITY: Rule plan could boost roadworks bill.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... London utilities could have to take on a raft of new roadwork regulations and associated costs if a private Bill currently going through the House of Lords makes its way into the law books. The London Local Authorities and Transport for...

Wanna hear a secret?
March 1, 2002... Using just work of mouth, Telecom Plus aims to become a major multi-utility . Trevor Dooley talks to Charles Wigoder. There is a well-worn adage that has an anxious industry chief declaring:'I know that half of what I spend on advertising...

Over to European Union.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Oftel has it all to do The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has 14 months to transpose four European directives into British law (a process that is simplified by the fact that telecoms law is being rewritten here anyway) with the...

Electricity: Grid plans cost ?20m a year.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Ofgem has unveiled arrangements for transmission access that will increase charges to most generators by more than ?20 million a year. The new arrangements (which apply only in England and Wales) will shift the burden of the cost of losses...

Safety in numbers.
March 1, 2002... As the telecoms sector continues its plummet - only three UK telecoms companies remain in the FT 100 - and a severe bout of Enronitis is being suffered by certain other go-go companies, the relatively pedestrian qualities of United Utilities,...

WATER: Wessex venture may be capital idea.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Wessex Water has become the first water company to enter into a joint venture with a contractor to deliver its capital programme. Wessex is to form a new company with Montgomery Watson Harza - MWH Wessex - to deliver all its capital works...

WATER; Change to sewer rules threatens capex rise.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Water companies could be landed with a soaring capital maintenance bill if the government goes ahead with proposals to encourage them to adopt more private sewers and to prioritise the prevention of sewer flooding. Environment minister...

ELECTRICITY; British Energy funds study into advanced reactor.(British Nuclear Fuels PLC)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... British Energy has commissioned British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to work on a year-long study and submit a plan for an advanced pressurised water reactor that will generate electricity at ?500/MWh, compared with current costs at over ?650/MWh. ...

TELECOMS; BTsells stake in recruitment firm for ?50m.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... BT has sold its stake in e-peopleserve, its human resources outsourcing service, to its joint- venture partner Accenture for ?50 million, as part of its debt reduction programme. Under the deal, BT will receive payments of up to ?150...

WATER; Bank bid for Wessex will hit Brockhampton.(Royal Bank of Scotland PLC)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... by Paul Garrett A consortium of three banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland has emerged as front-runner to buy Enron-owned Wessex Water. The move could lead to a regulatory probe into Royal Bank's stake in Brockhampton, the owner of...

TELECOMS; Colt cuts chat to ring up the numbers game.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Alternative carrier Colt Telecom has responded to City pressure to expand its data services business. Analysts have criticised Colt for its reliance on voice services, which contributed 59 per cent of the firm's ?905.7 million revenue in...

WATER; Gloomy credit quality prospects for sector.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... by Karma Ockenden Credit prospects for the water industry are gloomy, according to research by investment bank JP Morgan. Analysts had 'an overall negative view' of the credit ratings outlook for the sector. They said its financial...

TELECOMS; Japan mobile giant sets out for global push.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Shares in NTT DoCoMo started trading in New York and London last week as the Japanese telecoms company stated its aim to capture at least six million customers globally by 2004. The push into Europe will include a roll-out this spring of...

PAN-UTILITIES; Faster planning plan panned.(Friends of the Earth)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Government proposals to speed up the planning process for major infrastructure projects like power stations and reservoirs were attacked this week by environmental groups as 'disastrous' and likely to erode public trust in the planning system....

WATER; Water at threat from foot and mouth.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Water supplies could be contaminated by foot and mouth disposal sites, the Environment Agency (EA) has warned. Its assessment of the environmental impact of the foot and mouth outbreak, published last week, revealed that long-term...

ENERGY; No-profit banks pushed for fuel poor aid role.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Not-for-profit banks for low-income clients have been identified this week as a potentially important way of helping some four million fuel-poor households without bank accounts to get access to cheaper energy. The value of so-called...

GAS; Wrangle over vehicle tracking plan.(Transco PLC)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Transco, under threat of industrial action, has agreed that a controversial plan to fit its vehicle fleet with a tracking scheme based on satellite global positioning technology will only be introduced provided the data is not used for...

GAS; Transco denies; training rule supply threat.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Transco this week scotched industry rumours week that the gas network might have to be shut down on 1 April because most of its engineers have not got accreditation under a new industrial training regime due to come into force next month. ...

TXU nets Amerada.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... TXU Europe, the owner of TXU Energi, has bought the UK retail and trading business of Amerada Hess for ?117 million. Amerada Hess has more than 400,000 residential energy and telecoms customers. Its wholesale gas marketing operations serve 11...

The utility super-league.(PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P.)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... The latest PricewaterhouseCoopers European utility survey, Movers and Shakers, introduces the idea of a European utility super-league. And what an elite group it is. There are six utilities on the list, none of them from Britain. As we...

ENERGY; UK lags Europe in bid to lure target users.(market segmentation)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... by Paul Garrett Energy suppliers in Britain lag their counterparts in continental Europe in attracting target customers by providing tariff offerings geared towards their lifestyles. Research from market analyst Datamonitor showed UK...

Playing it safe.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Transco managing director Colin Matthews is adamant that cuts won't compromise safety . He talks to Roger Milne. When Concorde resumed commercial flights last year the signature on the safety certification was that of Colin Matthews, then...

Joining rules.
March 8, 2002... Mergers and acquisitions are the lifeblood of business. For this reason, merger policy has always been an important part of commercial life. In the water industry, the struggle for domination and market share following privatisation has lent...

WATER; Mid Kent signs up to customer interest clause.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Mid Kent Water has signed up to a number of conditions laid down by Ofwat to protect customer interests following its acquisition by Swan Capital Group. Ofwat has put in place new restrictions on asset transfers and contracting within the...

Lattice Group.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... by Sumi Sastri Regulated turnover from the Lattice Group's energy operations have resulted in a flat turnover profile. For four years running, the group's turnover has remained at ?3.1 billion. Burdensome regulation in its energy...

WATER; Clean-up focus on four rivers and 180 coasts.(wastewater treatment)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Measures to prevent pollution are to be stepped up at four rivers and 180 coastal areas under the urban wastewater treatment regulations, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced on Tuesday. Stretches of the...

PAN-UTILITY; Energy reluctant to outsource billing.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... The outsourcing of customer account management is well underway in water, but energy is unlikely to follow suit, investment bank Merrill Lynch has predicted. It advised outsourcing companies to look to water or outside the energy sector, even...

PAN-UTILITY; Six super-utilities emerge to lead the way in Europe.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Six key utility players have begun to dominate Europe's markets, with three of the biggest of them set to break away further, according to a report from consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers. The leading trio of giants (Electricit? de France...

Planning row starts to heat up.(land use proposals)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... The government's radical planning reform agenda is facing a backlash from environmental groups. This week a coalition of some of the biggest names, including the influential Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) and Friends of the...

ELECTRICITY; Wilson launches green power unit.(energy minister Brian Wilson introduces Renewables UK)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... The government this week set up a new organisation dedicated to securing benefits for British manufacturers from the growing market for sustainable energy products and services. The Department of Trade and Industry plans to spend ?250,000 a...

Rumour still rules the roost.(Innogy, Energis and other companies' share prices)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 8, 2002... by Trevor Dooley A bid rumour that charged up interest in Innogy faded and the smoke cleared from the collapse of Energis's share price. But the telecoms sector continued to rumble as the rest of the utility sector went to sleep. At...

Making radio waves.(spectrum license fees)
March 8, 2002... Wireless communications have come a long way since three dots in morse code (the letter 's') were transmitted from Cornwall across the Atlantic on 12 December 1901 by the Wireless Telegraph Company (later Marconi) to Newfoundland, where the...

Keeping up appearances.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Utilities are hitting the headlines. The demise of Enron (Europe), a number of high-profile mergers and acquisitions, plus the targeting of customers through prime time advertising deals, means that consumers are never far away from utility...

ENERGY; TXUbags Amerada retail in ?117m deal.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... by Trevor Dooley Consolidation in the UKenergy retail sector forged ahead this week as TXU bought Amerada Hess's retail and trading operation for ?117 million, giving it the third-largest customer base in the domestic energy market behind...

TELECOMS; Telewest shares dive on talk of debt rethink.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... bySumi Sastri Rumbles that Telewest's biggest stakeholder, Liberty Media, was pushing to renegotiate the beleaguered cable operator's ?5.1 billion debt rattled investors who dumped the stock shortly after the company released its...

GAS; Transco on trial over fatal Scots gas blast.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... by Roger Milne gas Pipeline operator Transco faces an unlimited fine, probably of seven figures, if it is found guilty for the 1999 Larkhall gas explosion which killed a family of four. Last week Scotland's Crown Office announced...

Strange links, odd jobs and jokes.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2002... Tenuous links between products and current events (number 456 in an occasional series). Yes, in that long line of PR attempts to link products and the news diary - remember all those grating September 11 references - let's hear it for...

WATER; Angler could hook AWGfor millions.(Anglian Water polluted Essex river)(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Anglian Water is facing a first-of-its-kind private prosecution, and a possible multi-million pound fine for polluting an Essex river. Roy Hart, a keen fisherman of Battlebridge in Essex, began proceedings against Anglian last October after...

TELECOMS; BTsigns web deal in China.(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... BT has signed a framework agreement with 21ViaNet to provide web hosting facilities for European customers wishing to do business in China. No money has changed hands, a BT spokesman said, but the deal is expected to offer a new revenue...

The cover story.(Ofgem proposals)(Cover Story)
March 15, 2002... While energy regulator Ofgem is eager not to be seen as reacting in a knee-jerk fashion, its proposals (out for consultation) on the type and level of credit cover market players should hold was sparked by the collapse of supply company and...

ELECTRICITY; Generators call for capacity payments.(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Generators are pressing for the reintroduction of payments for offering capacity -?the focus of much of the market rigging that galvanised the creation of the New Electricity Trading Arrangements (Neta). Powergen's director of trading and...

ENERGY; Complaints rise slammed by consumer watchdog.(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Complaints about domestic energy direct selling were rising again, according to the latest statistics compiled by consumer watchdog Energywatch. Chairwoman Ann Robinson this week voiced concern over the trend. 'These figures reflect an...

ENERGY; Favoured credit cover 'risky', expert warns.(Office of Gas and Electricity Markets)(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... by Trevor Dooley Energy regulator Ofgem has heaped criticism on credit rating agency investment grading as a form of credit cover for power sector players. But generators have warned that Ofgem's favoured form of cover, letters of credit,...

TELECOMS; Banks throw Energis a loan lifeline.(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Bankers have given Energis a vote of confidence by allowing the cash-strapped telecoms carrier to draw on the remainder of its ?725 million loan facility, despite missing earnings targets. Energis negotiated the loan in December, but by...

The politics of power.(national approach to energy policy in the United Kingdom)(Editorial)
March 15, 2002... I sat down to write this piece for Utility Week after reading an obituary of dear old Arthur Hetherington, who died at the age of 90 last month. He was the man who reorganised the gas industry some 30 years ago, when most of today's utility...

ENERGY; New boost for offshore gas production.(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Energy minister Brian Wilson last week welcomed an agreement by the offshore industry to a package of initiatives designed to maximise recovery from Britain's remaining oil and gas reserves. It was estimated that the new measures will...

PAN-UTILITY; Utilities bottom of customer league.(customer service)(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Customers have rated utilities as the worst for customer service in a cross-sector survey by consumer specialist Detica. Only 14 per cent of respondents said utilities treated them as individuals; only 22 per cent said it was easy to...

PAN-UTILITy; Government to review audits and non-execs.(United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Ministers have launched reviews of audit practice and the role of non-executive directors, initiatives designed to minimise the possibility of UK companies echoing Enron's demise. Trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt announced the...

Southern Water sale.(Vivendi Environment)(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Shares in ScottishPower slumped last week as the company announced a double-whammy for investors; the sale of its Southern Water subsidiary and a cut in future dividends from March 2003. Southern Water has been sold to what the Daily Express...

PAN-UTILITY; Utility language skills 'disgraceful'.(use of foreign language skills)(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Language management firm The Big Word has branded half of the FTSE-listed water companies and a third of the listed electricity companies as 'disgraceful' after its research into language skills in UK commerce. The Big Word called FTSE...

Forcing the issue.(Royal Bank of Scotland to increase utility assets)(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... It seems there is no stopping the Royal Bank of Scotland when it comes to utility assets. It bankrolled Brockhampton, is in the frame for Wessex Water with its friends at Abbey National, and now, as we report in our news section this week, the...

Test stands for water merger.
March 15, 2002... Sir: I write concerning a significant error in the article Joining Rules (Utility Week, 8 March). Although the government is aligning water industry mergers with general merger reform under the Enterprise Bill, the 'turnover test' for...

TELECOMS; Mobile masts get safety all-clear.(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Tests carried out on 100 UK mobile telecoms masts sited near schools found none that emitted radiation at levels above international or European Union (EU) heath and safety standards. In many cases, the radiation levels were hundreds, and...

International Power.(financial information)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 15, 2002... by Trevor Dooley International Power was one of the early victims of the wariness of the power sector after the collapse of US trading giant Enron. Its exposure to already tight US wholesale prices brought the generator under fire and one...

WATER; Ring-fence on Portsmouth to protect users.(Portsmouth Water)(Brief Article)
March 15, 2002... Ofwat has drawn up a number of changes to Portsmouth Water's licence to ring-fence the business for customer protection, following its acquisition by the South Downs Capital group. Portsmouth will have to: maintain an investment grade...