Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 5TH - 11TH OCTOBER 2018 | 11 Policy & Regulation This week Corbyn promises a 'green jobs revolution' Opposition leader says investment programme to meet carbon targets will create 400,000 jobs Jeremy Corbyn has pledged a "green jobs revolution" to create more than 400,000 skilled posts in low-carbon industries. In his keynote speech at the Labour conference, the opposi- tion leader said the investment required to deliver the party's goal to achieve a 60 per cent cut in emissions by 2030 will create more than 400,000 skilled jobs. He said: "I know that sounds ambitious. It is ambitious and will be delivered with the most far-reaching programme of investment and transformation in decades." Corbyn said a future Labour government would work with trade unions to protect jobs and skills in the transi- tion to a low-carbon economy. Shadow business and energy secretary Rebecca Long- Bailey said Labour would back a ramp up in deployment of wind power generation to achieve its 60 per cent goal. Energy UK chief executive Lawrence Slade hailed Labour's pledge to provide extra funding to improve the energy efficiency of the UK's housing stock as an "important commitment". "We support the focus shown on low-carbon energy, green jobs and energy efficiency. Leonie Greene, advocacy director of the Solar Trade Association, said: "The government estimates that around £180 billion needs to be invested in the electricity sector alone to 2030, so enabling the lowest-cost technol- ogies which do not need public subsidy and which do not contribute to climate change, namely solar and onshore wind, would be very good news for consumers." DB WATER Companies submit improvement plans Water companies across England and Wales have submitted plans to Ofwat that detail how they intend to address the shortcom- ings identified in their handling of the "Beast from the East". Widespread disruption to the network in the aermath of the freeze/thaw in March le more than 200,000 people without water for up to four days. The "Out in the Cold" review, published in June, revealed that some companies responded well, but others fell short with their advance planning, response and communication with customers. Ofwat required four water companies – Thames Water, Sev- ern Trent, Southern Water and South East Water – to submit a detailed, externally audited action plan describing how they will address the issues. Ofwat plans to respond to the reports by mid-November. ENERGY Ofgem whistleblower report published Ofgem has published its first annual "whistleblowing report" to reassure whistleblowers they are "taken seriously". The regulator said 79 "quali- fying disclosures" were made between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 by workers in the gas and electricity sector. A qualifying disclosure is one that, in the reasonable belief of the worker making it, is made in the public interest and tends to show, among other things, that health and safety is being breached or a person is not complying with their legal obligations. Thirty-eight disclosures did not lead to any employer con- tact, background enquiries are continuing for 15, and 12 are still considered part of an ongoing investigation/compliance action. One disclosure, aer further enquiries, led to an investiga- tion and five resulted in ongoing contact with the employer. ENERGY May signs UK up to net-zero coalition Theresa May has signed the UK up to the coalition of nations working to support the Paris Agreement's goal to eradicate net carbon emissions by 2050. The prime minister announced in her address to the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York that the UK will join the Carbon Neutral- ity Coalition. The 19 state-strong coalition, led by New Zealand and the Mar- shall Islands, promotes "long- term planning and ambitious action" in support of the Paris Agreement's collective goals of net-zero global emissions. Corbyn plans "ambitious" investment programme Political Agenda David Blackman "The Tories are in a bind, with siren voices to left and right" Labour's full-throated embrace of public ownership, vividly on display at its annual party conference, has clearly rattled the Conservatives. But they appear unsure about how to respond. Some in Birmingham, where the party gathered for its annual confer- ence, believe that measures like the energy price cap have helped to incubate what they see as an anti-free enterprise virus. For this school of thinking, the answer is to combat Labour's in a bind, caught between siren voices to the le and right. The review of regulation, announced by Philip Hammond, can hardly be expected to set voters' pulses racing. The chan- cellor didn't even mention it dur- ing his own conference speech, delivered to a sparsely attended meeting of activists. However a refresh of the now 30-year-old privatisation regime could get a hearing aer March when Brexit may finally start to slip down the political agenda. renationalisation push by finish- ing the revolution unleashed by Margaret Thatcher. In this world view, private monopolies, like water and energy networks, should be broken up to give consumers greater choice. Within government, however, there is nervousness about this strain of thinking. At what is shaping up to be a profoundly disruptive point in national life when Britain exits the EU, they sense little appetite in the coun- try for this radical approach. With its wistful nostalgia for a more secure past, the latest Labour party political broadcast tapped into this mood. This leaves the Conservatives

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