Utility Week

12 | 14TH - 20TH SEPTEMBER 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Policy & Regulation This week Ofwat begins scrutiny of business plans Regulator due to publish its initial assessment of the plans of 17 water companies on 31 January Ofwat has wasted no time in starting to scrutinise water com- panies' business plans for the next price review period, PR19, which sets the price, service and incentive package water companies must deliver during the five-year period. All water companies in Eng- land and Wales submitted their business plans to the regulator on 3 September, in which they have outlined how they will meet the needs of their customers from 2020 to 2025. Companies have explained what they propose to charge customers, how they will ensure the long-term resilience of their infrastructure and operations, and what additional help they will give vulnerable customers. Ofwat said proposals outlined by the 17 firms include: bill changes ranging from an increase of 3.5 per cent to a decrease of 14 per cent; a reduction in daily household water use per person to as low as 119 litres, compared with a current sector-wide average of 141 litres; and a commitment from 16 companies to meet Ofwat's 15 per cent leakage reduction challenge, with two companies promising to cut leakage by more than 20 per cent. The regulator is due to publish its initial assessment of each company's plan on 31 January 2019, when it will categorise them according to the level of quality, ambi- tion and innovation they have demonstrated. Ofwat senior director David Black said: "We'll be looking for evidence of ambition and innovation and crucially, we'll want to see customers and the environ- ment put to the fore as never before." KP ENERGY Delivery of Scottish public firm criticised Opposition leader Ruth Davidson has criticised the Scottish govern- ment for not delivering rapidly enough on its pledge to set up a public-owned energy company. The Scottish government's programme for government, published last week, confirms Holyrood is pressing ahead with the establishment of a public- owned energy company. It says the Scottish government will be consulting next year on its pre- ferred model for delivering the not-for-profit company as part of its plans to tackle fuel poverty. The Scottish government said in June this consultation would take place "later this year". In the debate on the pro- gramme for government, which took place in the Scottish parlia- ment on 4 September, Conserva- tive Davidson highlighted the energy company plan as one of the areas in which the Scottish government had failed to make progress over the past year, describing it as "a new state- owned energy company that so far has not produced any energy". WATER Leakage 'equivalent to Loch Ness' Labour has claimed the water lost through leaks this decade would fill Loch Ness. Ahead of a visit by party leader Jeremy Corbyn to Leices- ter's historic Abbey Pumping Station, Labour said the leaks had resulted in the loss of more than 7.5 trillion litres of water between 2010 and 2017 – the equivalent to the total volume of Loch Ness. This equated to the loss of 20 per cent of water before it reaches the home. Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour's shadow secretary of state for business and energy, said: "Labour will replace this dysfunctional system with a net- work of regional, publicly owned water companies." ELECTRICITY National Grid seeks Wylfa link consent National Grid has applied to the Planning Inspectorate for a development consent order for a new transmission link for the proposed Wylfa Newydd nuclear plant on the Isle of Anglesey. The power line will run alongside the existing connec- tion for the Wylfa nuclear power station that closed in 2015. National Grid has made multiple changes to the plans based on feedback from stake- holders, including: selecting a route that passes through the centre of Anglesey and avoiding options nearer the coast; and locating the cable close to the existing power line to minimise the impact. Black: looking for evidence of innovation Political Agenda David Blackman "Net zero is increasingly viewed as business sense" This week saw the presentation of a letter to Theresa May, calling on the government to cut UK emissions to "net zero" before 2050, going beyond the target agreed by the UK at the 2015 Paris climate change convention. A total of 131 MPs – a fih of the House of Commons – backed the zero-carbon goal, which the government has already pledged to examine this autumn. Attitudes towards environ- mental issues have tended to break down on the le/right regarded by most as belonging to the realms of science fiction. But the strides made in the low-carbon generation space mean net zero is a goal increas- ingly viewed as business sense. A good place to start would be to accelerate the phase-out of new diesel and petrol cars. The PM ducked the opportunity to take that option at the Zero Emis- sion Vehicle Summit this week. But it seems she has more room for manoeuvre on this issue than she might have thought. ideological divide. The signa- tories to the letter do include more Labour MPs than those of any other party, but they also include 38 Conservatives. A hey chunk is from the centrist wing of the party, such as Damian Green, the prime minister's de facto number two until he was forced to resign last summer. In addition though, the signa- tories number arch-Brexiteers such as Tom Tugendhat, the foreign affairs select committee chair tipped as a potential future leader of the Tory party. This marks a big sea change. Even five years ago, the idea of transitioning to a zero-carbon economy would have been

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