Utility Week

Community A nose for an opportunity Once upon a time, all dogs were required to work for a living but these days – with the noble exception of police dogs and guide dogs – they are mostly pampered pets who spend their days trying to guilt their owners out of food and the warm spot on the couch. Wessex Water is bucking that trend, having employed a springer spaniel called Freya to sniff out newts on company property, or more specifically great crested newts. Why, you may ask? Well, European environmental rules make it an offence to dam- age the habitat of the great crested newt (special barriers have to be erected around any groundworks taking place within 250m of their breed- ing grounds), so being able to detect the presence of newts early saves Wessex a lot of time and money. Or so the company is hoping. Once we leave the European Union, of course, everything changes and maybe we will once again be able to squish newts unhindered by Brussels red tape, in which case Freya could find herself unemployed. Or maybe – to use the modern parlance – she could be "repurposed", and instead of saving newts she could hunt them down as a delicacy for the Asian dinner table, depend- ing on the fine print of all those trade deals we'll be signing with our new friends. Dogged by Brexit Wessex Water was understand- ably quiet about Freya's politi- cal affiliations – utilities try to keep their heads down when it comes to politics, with varying degrees of success – but 1,000 dog walkers who took part in a march against Brexit last week were not so shy. The ostensible reason given for the march was that pet food would become more expensive post-Brexit and there would be a shortage of vets. The great man is a bit dubious about this, tbh. The suspicion must be that these liberal elitist pooch-own- ers would be marching against Brexit regardless of the price of dog food, and the whole thing was an excuse to hold up signs declaring "Brexit is barking". However, Disconnector was taken with some very British touches to the whole thing, such as "pee stations" located along the route where the dogs were encouraged to urinate on images of leading Brexi- teers such as Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson. There are similar cultural clashes going on across the pond with people for and against Trump, only in those demos people drive pick-up trucks into crowds and shoot at each other. Brexit is a very British revo- lution, and ultimately will be resolved over a cup of tea. The cat ate my electricity It was a rather desperate ruse by a Siberian couple to get out of paying their electricity bill, blaming the cat. When the couple, from the Russian city of Barnaul, moved home the local electricity com- pany inspected the meter and found that it had been tam- pered with. They were taken to court and accused of electricity the but said that their cat Vasya liked to hang out in the attic, where the meter was located, in close proximity to the meter. In fact, this was the reason they were moving home – they were afraid Vasya would electrocute himself. They told the court that it must have been the cat that broke the seal on the meter. Unfortunately for our pro- tagonists, the power utility tes- tified that this wasn't possible without a pair of wire cutters, and what with cats not having opposable thumbs, the verdict was a foregone conclusion. Disconnector Publishing director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Acting editor: Suzanne Heneghan, t: 01342 332106, e: suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com Acting content director: Denise Chevin, 01342 332087, denisechevin@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray (maternity leave); Features editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; News editor: Katey Pigden, t: 01342 332082, e: kateypigden@ fav-house.com; Energy correspondent: Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tomgrimwood@ fav-house.com; Policy correspondent: David Blackman, e: davidblackman@fav-house.com; Reporter: Adam John, t: 01342 332069, e: adamjohn@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, t: 01342 332085, e: paulnewton@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Ben Hammond, e: benhammond@fav-house.com. t: 01342 332116; Business development executive: Sarah Wood, e: sarahwood@ fav-house.com. t: 01342 332117 Conference sponsorship manager: Sophie Abbott, t: 01342 332062, e: sophieabbott@ fav-house.com; General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership enquiries: Peter Bissell, t: 01342 332057, e: peterbissell@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. 2,500 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2017 Membership subscriptions: UK £769+VAT per year. Overseas £781 per year. Contact Peter Bissell on: 01342 332057 Utility Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact the publishing director, Ellen Bennett, at ellenbennett@fav-house.com. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk UTILITY WEEK | 12TH - 18TH OCTOBER 2018 | 31 Rebecca Long-Bailey @RLong_Bailey There are huge opportunities from tackling climate change. We are serious about ushering in a Green Jobs Revolution. But it will not be easy, and we have to start now. William Marchant @richonlyinname The new shale commissioner role is a curious one. I wonder if something similar for onshore wind could have defused the opposition in some communities. They may simply be regarded as an industry stooge. Claire Perry @claireperrymp I welcome the strong scientific analysis behind today's #IPCC report, the conclusions reached are stark and sober. As policymakers we need to work together to accelerate the low-carbon transition to avoid the costs and misery of a rapidly warming world. Jan Rosenow @janrosenow The @ipcc_ch report is clear – the less we are able to reduce energy demand, the more CCS and bioenergy we will need to meet the target of 1.5 degrees. Given the multiple benefits of energy efficiency this is a no-brainer! Tom Steward @Steward_T The day before the #SMETS1 end date was due, government announced a decision to extend it by two months. This came as a surprise to absolutely no-one, but does somewhat make a mockery of the consultation process. #notverysmartmeter Richard Lowes @heatpolicyrich With all this talk of net zero emissions, I'd like to remind everyone that UK emissions from heating (weather corrected) have increased two years in a row. Tiny deployment of low- carbon heat and energy efficiency. Buildings still being connected to the gas network. Nick Mabey @Mabeytweet Bizarre to hear @davidshukmanbbc say that governments will have to hope that science of IPCC 1.5C report is wrong because cutting emissions rapidly is so hard. Govts aren't doing anything like what they could be to cut emissions even using cost-saving efficiency measures. Top Tweets

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