Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 13TH - 19TH JULY 2018 | 27 Customers Gas distribution company Cadent has appointed Zoe McLeod to chair its newly estab- lished customer engagement group (CEG). The CEG's aim is to ensure the company's approach to deci- sion making and future planning is aligned with consumer needs and priorities. The group will be expected to challenge the com- pany on the development of its GAS Cadent's new customer engagement chair calls for members 2021 business plan and day-to- day stakeholder engagement. McLeod urges new members to join the CEG and contribute their skills and experience. "I'm really looking forward to getting started in this important role and working with Cadent," she said. "It's easy for companies to make promises that they will put customers and the public interest at the heart of their decision making, but our role as a customer engagement group will be to ensure it genuinely happens. "The company has expressed an ambition to be one of the best network companies and we intend to hold them to that. "We are currently recruiting members for the CEG and look- ing to ensure a diverse range of This week Domestic water 'not ready' for competition CEO of Castle Water warns that household market is not ready for a wider choice of suppliers Customers are not ready for the extension of supplier choice to the household market, the chief executive of Castle Water has told MPs. Giving evidence last week to the House of Commons' environment, food and rural affairs select committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the regulation of the water industry, John Reynolds said the first year of non-domestic market liberalisation had been "hard work". He said there has been a "big move" by public sector bodies, such as councils and NHS trusts, to seek new suppliers, but there had not been "enough buy-in" from SMEs due to a lack of support and information that would embolden firms to switch providers. Reynolds added: "The central information to support the market isn't very good and even where we offer discounts that can be 10 per cent, customers aren't opting for it." When quizzed on whether the domestic market was ready for a greater choice of suppliers, he said "unfor- tunately, no" because the potential savings on offer were too low to make switching worthwhile. Reynolds believed policymakers would be better off concentrat- ing on enhancing the customer rights framework. "The approach we have is not fit for purpose to protect domestic customers where things go wrong." Steve Robertson, chief executive of Thames Water, admitted the company had learnt lessons from its response to the thaw that followed the "Beast from the East", when thousands of its customers were le without water because of burst pipes. He said the utility should rely less on social media to communicate with customers and instead use centralised points such as supermarket car parks to distribute water bottles to customers. DB ENERGY Government to miss fuel poverty target Analysis shows the government will miss its target of ensur- ing fuel-poor households are upgraded to an energy efficiency rating (EPC) of C by 2030. The government set out its target for delivering energy effi- ciency measures in its 2015 Fuel Poverty Strategy. According to a report by think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), failure to reform policies will see the government miss this target by at least 60 years. Recent government figures show the 2.55 million house- holds that live in fuel poverty in England face an average fuel poverty gap – the amount by which a fuel-poor household's energy bills exceed reasonable costs every year – of £326. For households in the most energy- inefficient homes (with an EPC of G), the gap is £1,482. IPPR is calling for a reform of the government's scheme to tackle fuel poverty because the analysis shows the pace of progress is too slow. Based on the current rate of deployment of energy efficiency measures under the Energy Com- pany Obligation (Eco) scheme, the government will not meet its target for upgrading fuel-poor homes until 2091 at the earliest. IPPR research fellow, Joshua Emden, said: "While we wel- come recent government plans to focus 100 per cent of funds on fuel-poor, low-income and vulnerable households (the Affordable Warmth group), everyone knows there will still be problems with reaching fuel-poor consumers within this group. "Until we fundamentally redesign Eco and properly fund local authorities to deliver it, it will always look like the ghost of an old energy policy, rather than the truly social policy it must become," Emden said. ENERGY M&S Energy and SSE pull plug on alliance Marks & Spencer Energy and SSE are to end their partnership of nine years. M&S Energy will supply customers with electric- ity and gas until 28 September this year. In a joint statement issued last week, the pair announced the "amicable" split. The state- ment said: "SSE and M&S have achieved a lot as partners, sup- plying 100 per cent green energy and supporting over 70 commu- nity energy projects under the M&S Energy brand. "M&S Energy customers will continue to be supplied by SSE, with no interruption to their supply. "We will be writing to cus- tomers shortly to let them know about all the options available to them when the contract comes to an end in September 2018. "SSE and M&S will work to ensure all communications are clear and transparent for customers." Households: minimal savings possible skills, knowledge and perspec- tives." McLeod is a consumer advo- cate with a background working for the customer watchdog Con- sumer Focus, Citizens Advice, National Energy Action and Friends of the Earth. She is chair of South East Water's customer challenge group and undertakes associate work with think-tank Sustainability First.

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