Utility Week articles from May 2009

Utility Week archives from May 2009

ELECTRICITYThe end for unabated coal?(News)
May 1, 2009... by Roger Milne and Janet Wood There was a broad welcome this week for plans announced by Ed Miliband, secretary of state at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, to expand the government's carbon capture and storage (CCS)...

Costly calculations.(Features)
May 1, 2009... Laura Flowerdew analyses the water companies' final business plans and assesses the difficulties Ofwat faces in calculating a fair price settlement Last month, water companies in England and Wales submitted to Ofwat updated business plans...

GASLeeds to benefit from connection incentive.(News)
May 1, 2009... by Roger Milne Hundreds of homes in the Leeds area will soon benefit from lower fuel bills and improved energy efficiency as a result of an innovative partnership between gas distribution company Northern Gas Networks (NGN) and a...

Blue sky thinking.(Features)
May 1, 2009... The Future of Utilities conference allowed some of the UK's major utilities to engage in a spot of star gazing, as Steve Hobson reports As well as a platform for regulators to address the utility industry, the annual Adam Smith Institute...

Unfinished Business.(Features)
May 1, 2009... Falling demand for electricity and a looming general election make 2009 a difficult year to call for German power utilities, says Nigel Hawkins In Germany, the effects of the recession are being widely felt, not least in the electricity...

waterNorthumbrian Water makes polluter pay.(News)
May 1, 2009... A seafood company has had to pay [pounds sterling]26,223 for allowing oily effluent to enter the sewerage network, imperilling the treatment process at a Northumbrian Water sewage treatment work and causing an extensive clean-up. Solicitor...

ENERGYAnother big six customer signs with UK Coal.(News)
May 1, 2009... UK Coal was celebrating this week as it announced it had added another big energy supplier as a customer. The company said Scottish and Southern Energy had become a "significant new core customer". It also announced new or amended...

ENERGYUtilities clash over Copenhagen.(News)
May 1, 2009... Two of the country's biggest generators disagreed in Parliament this week over expectations from the UN conference on climate change to be held in Copenhagen. Humphrey Hudson, EDF Energy's head of new nuclear business, told MPs he was...

ENERGYBills may have to show cheaper tariffs.(News)
May 1, 2009... The charity National Energy Action has welcomed a Ten Minute Rule Bill introduced in Parliament that would require energy companies to publish details of cheaper tariffs on bills. The Bill, which has all-party support, was proposed by John...

Budget payout to cut carbon.(Features)
May 1, 2009... Last week's Budget was not doom and gloom for everyone - the government wants to quadruple the number of carbon capture and storage demonstration plants, and there was more cash for renewables. Roger Milne reports Last week's gloom-laden...

ELECTRICITY[pounds sterling]20m bid to support wind turbines.(News)
May 1, 2009... The Carbon Trust is to launch a competition to find new designs for foundations for offshore wind turbines, one of the most costly parts of a windfarm. The trust is looking for foundations to be used in water 30-60m deep, with...

News.
May 8, 2009... An ill wind Denmark-based Vestas, the world's biggest maker of wind turbines, has announced plans to axe 1,900 jobs despite a 70 per cent increase in profit. Around 600 of the redundancies will be in the UK, largely at the firm's factory...

PAN-UTILITYResilience in question again over swine flu.(News)
May 8, 2009... The advent of swine flu has once again brought resilience to the top of utilities' agendas. At the centre of UK planning has been the Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat. The group's director, Bruce Mann, will be able to update...

waterWater UK offers water debt advice.(News)
May 8, 2009... Industry association Water UK has brought together on its website information on the different measures available to water customers in debt in order to help debt advisers help customers. The page, Paying For Water, was developed with input...

News.
May 8, 2009... Pipedream? Actually, no. This week's picture highlights the fact that over the past four years, Three Valleys Water has replaced 500km of water mains, enough to encircle Wembley Stadium 500 times, at a cost of [pounds sterling]80 million....

Plumbers are part of the solution.(News)
May 8, 2009... Sir: I recently attended the excellent Waterwise conference in Oxford, but was surprised and disappointed that plumbers were not represented in the speaker line-up. There were speakers from Ofwat, B&Q, Water UK, the Greater London...

PAN-UTILITYAdd water to Warm Front, says think-tank.(News)
May 8, 2009... by Roger Milne The Warm Front energy-saving scheme should be expanded to include water efficiency, a report on sustainable water use has estimated. It calculated that the move would cost at least another [pounds sterling]8*million a year....

MPs fall out over new nuclear.(Features)
May 8, 2009... Energy issues continue to be high profile at Westminster and in the devolved administrations. MPs clashed in the Commons last week over whether there should be new nuclear power stations in Scotland. The row came during a parliamentary...

Back to basics.(Features)
May 8, 2009... Hannah Nixon explains why Ofgem has embarked on a wide-ranging review that questions the very fundamentals of current regulation, RPI-X@20 Global economics, the environment and other sustainability issues are having a growing influence on...

ELECTRICITYNuclear sites sold, but price questioned.(News)
May 8, 2009... by Janet Wood The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has raised [pounds sterling]387 million from the sale of three sites to new-build nuclear developers, but analysts questioned whether the buyers had paid too much for the sites. Two...

Features.
May 8, 2009... If you were to ask anyone involved in the world of wind energy, 99 per cent of people would likely tell you that their biggest frustration is planning law, and rightly so. The environmental message from central and local policy makers has...

Is the Flood Bill full of holes?(Features)
May 8, 2009... Even as the Flood and Water Management Bill is published, the government says it will have to be amended to incorporate the Cave and Walker Reviews, which have yet to report. Annabel Andrews examines what is likely to change The...

PAN-UTILITYUnited and Grid pioneer biogas plan.(News)
May 8, 2009... National Grid and United Utilities have teamed up to develop what will be the UK's first large-scale project to convert wastewater sludge into biomethane (biogas) for vehicle fuel and injection into the local gas supply network. Under the...

Common cause.(Features)
May 8, 2009... Robert Stait explores why water company debt collection rates lag those of local authorities and asks what the two sectors learn from each other Long before this recession hit, household debt was already spiralling upwards. And according...

News.
May 15, 2009... Bonds drop a notch Fitch Ratings has downgraded the ratings of bonds issued by Southern Gas Networks, Scotland Gas Networks, Southern Water Services, Sutton and East Surrey Water and Yorkshire Water Finance. The automatic downgrade from...

The heat is on.(Features)
May 15, 2009... Stephanie Smith and Mark Brumwell explain how companies can top the 2010 CRC emissions league and avoid incurring cash penalties In April 2010 the government's Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) will come into force. This legally binding...

Wind bonus as network access rules are relaxed.(Features)
May 15, 2009... Ofgem has announced a temporary relaxation of the rules for new network connections in a bid to speed up the deployment of low-carbon generation such as windfarms. The temporary relaxation will allow National Grid to "connect and manage"...

Run for cover.(Features)
May 15, 2009... The Environmental Liabilities Directive has big implications for utilities. Professor Phil Morgan and Dr Genevieve Boshoff explain what they are Utility companies are facing increasing scrutiny from investors, customers and regulators on...

Speak in haste, regret at leisure.(News)
May 15, 2009... No doubt everyone involved in UK plc's bold move to embrace nuclear new-build is fervently hoping there will be no repeat over here of the sorry saga of Finland's Olkiluoto European pressurised water reactor. That train crash goes from bad...

ENERGYWatchdog urges energy-saving drive.(News)
May 15, 2009... Consumer Focus warned this week that the government's energy-efficiency plans were under-funded, untargeted and under-prepared to tackle the fuel poverty crisis affecting more than five million pensioners, families and disabled people in the...

Protecting critical infrastructure.(News)(Conference notes)
May 15, 2009... Now the government's draft Flood and Water Management Bill signals a new role for the Environment Agency in managing flood risk, utilities need to know if the green watchdog wants new measures to safeguard key services such as water and energy...

eLECTRICITYIrish auction halted over pricing errors.(News)
May 15, 2009... Irish regulators have suspended an annual auction of "directed contracts" because of mistakes in calculating the price to be charged. The auction, for power to be sold during the year from 1*November, began on 5 May and should have lasted...

ELECTRICITYEDF nuclear build decision 'within year'.(News)
May 15, 2009... by Janet Wood An investment decision on EDF Energy's plan to build four nuclear reactors in the UK will be made within the year, the company's director of nuclear new-build has told Utility Week. He said the decision depended on the right...

Safety by design.(News)
May 15, 2009... Foreign suppliers must be made to understand and incorporate your company's culture of health and safety to minimise risk, says John Nixon The UK energy sector is one that benefits from forming partnerships with suppliers in developed...

PAN-UTILITYGlobal survey reveals firms' investment fear.(News)
May 15, 2009... Two-thirds (67 per cent) of utilities worldwide say that a shortage of capital has had a high or very high impact on their activities. The utilities were said to be facing "a difficult challenge as they balance the constraints of the downturn...

PAN-UTILITYOfgem and Defra act on resilience.(News)
May 15, 2009... Regulators and government are acting to test and reinforce the emergency arrangements in place if companies find themselves in financial distress. Ofgem has been examining the ability of energy companies to withstand financial distress...

PAN-UTILITYInfrastructure plan needed for southeast.(Features)
May 15, 2009... The government has formally proposed that the new regional planning body for southeast England should have to produce an implementation plan setting out how the region's infrastructure requirements - including water supply and sewage treatment...

ELECTRICITYRow over Ofgem's constraint estimates.(Features)
May 15, 2009... by Roger Milne Wind generators last week welcomed Ofgem's decision to relax the arrangements for new connections to the transmission network (see below), but made it clear they remained critical about how the regulator assesses so-called...

WATERScottish Water aids housebuilders.(News)
May 15, 2009... Scottish Water is delaying the point at which connection charges are payable by housebuilders, in a bid to support development by easing the financial burden on the construction industry. Currently, developers must pay connection charges in...

WATERMPs debate surface water charges.(News)
May 15, 2009... All churches, community sports clubs and Guide and Scout halls would be exempt from paying surface water drainage charges under proposed new legislation introduced in the Commons this week under the so-called ten-minute rule bill procedure. ...

ENERGYUnbundling deal may hit UK utilities.(News)
May 15, 2009... The European Union's "third package" bringing more competition to the bloc's energy sector could have implications for investment and operation of the UK grid, observers have warned. The package, which has been agreed but has yet to be...

Set incentives, not concrete.(Features)
May 15, 2009... Although the headlines coming out of the Cave Review have concentrated on the potential cost savings for water customers, the study's real benefit could be encouraging users to reduce their consumption, writes Steve Hobson To mark the...

News.
May 22, 2009... Model behaviour The Energy Technologies Institute, the public-private partnership intended to incubate green energy technologies, has launched a "low carbon" model. The Energy System Model identifies technologies that will most effectively...

waterGarden saves water at Chelsea.(News)
May 22, 2009... Yorkshire Water this week showcased how gardeners could conserve water and alleviate flooding with its Future Nature show garden at Chelsea Flower Show in London. The garden, which won a silver gilt award, featured a green roof to reduce...

News.
May 22, 2009... Best feet forward: last weekend a crack team from Utility Week braved the elements to take part in the annual Walk the Wight event, which raises money for a local hospice. Three completed the full 27-mile yomp, two had to pull out after...

WaterWater efficiency plan a 'missed opportunity'.(News)
May 22, 2009... NEWS IN BRIEF by Annabel Andrews The latest calculator underpinning water-efficiency standards for new homes has been criticised for encouraging gaming and not delivering sustainable water use. Judith Thornton, director of...

MP's expenses are illuminating.(News)
May 22, 2009... Much politicking in Brussels currently where the Agency for Co-operation of Energy Regulators (Acer) is being established. But who will head this Euro super (nay supra) regulator? And where will it be located? Three new member states - Romania,...

PAN-UTILITYWind and water cry foul over rates move.(News)
May 22, 2009... by Roger Milne The government has been warned that plans to increase business rates could make power projects uneconomic and increase water bills for some households. Both Water UK and the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) have voiced...

Floods of information.(Features)
May 22, 2009... When it comes to managing critical infrastructure, it is vital that local authorities and utilities share information reports David Harris The central benefit of the new flood forecasting centre for England and Wales, which officially...

Breathe easy?(Features)
May 22, 2009... The current swine flu scare has focused minds on how utilities would keep the lights on in a crisis, says Justin Pugsley What would happen to the smooth running of the UK's utility infrastructure in the event of a disaster such as swine flu...

ENERGYRestore faith in energy market, says think-tank.(News)
May 22, 2009... Public faith in Britain's energy market is at an all-time low, and customer confidence must be restored with more information about the costs of energy supply and changes to energy companies' governance. That was the message from think-tank...

waterWater bills raise cashflow concern.(News)
May 22, 2009... Scottish regulator Wics has proposed changes to the way water retailers pay for their bulk water supply from wholesaler Scottish Water to avoid cashflow problems for licensees. Currently, retailers must pay 30 days in advance for water from...

Scots set out flooding responsibility.(News)(Conference notes)
May 22, 2009... The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Bill last week passed the final stage of its scrutiny by Scottish Ministers. It places an overarching flood risk management duty on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, along with local councils and...

Negative thinking.(Features)
May 22, 2009... A period of deflation would be very damaging for the economy, but also very serious for water companies, says Nigel Hawkins Twenty years ago this month, water privatisation was not going very well. Political controversy, threats by the...