Utility Week

26 | 26TH OCTOBER - 1ST NOVEMBER 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Eon and BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK have announced a new collaboration to bring "green mortgages" one step closer to the UK property market. The partnership will provide an "affordable source of finance" to make energy efficiency makeovers more accessible to millions of people. Eon said tackling the energy ENERGY Eon partners with personal finance company for 'green mortgages' efficiency levels of existing hous- ing stock is one of the "biggest infrastructure challenges" of this generation. The government's Clean Growth Strategy aims by 2035 to bring as many homes as possible up to an energy performance certificate (EPC) band C level where practical, cost-effective and affordable. Around 19 million UK households – around 71 per cent of the UK's 27 million homes – currently fall below an EPC band C rating. Under the umbrella of the Energy Efficient Mortgage Action Plan (EeMAP) initiative, Eon is working with BNP Paribas Personal Finance to develop and pilot a "green mortgage" product that will allow movers, first-time buyers and remortgagers to use This week First Utility to take on Usio customers 7,000 customers will transfer to First Utility after Ofgem chose it as the supplier of last resort First Utility has been chosen as the supplier of last resort to rescue the customers of failed energy retailer Usio Energy, which ceased trading on 15 October. Around 7,000 customers will be transferred to First Utility aer Ofgem selected the supplier following a competitive tender process. First Utility is offering Usio Energy's customers a "competitive tariff " and will honour all outstanding credit balances, including money owed to both existing and former customers of Usio Energy. For existing customers, energy supplies will continue as normal. Any credit on their account can be used to offset future energy use. First Utility will contact former customers directly about their refund, if appropriate. The cost of protecting customers' credit balances will be partly met by First Utility, and partly by the safety net put in place by Ofgem. This is funded by a levy spread across all energy suppliers. Colin Crooks, chief executive of First Utility, said: "First Utility is very pleased to be able to step in and help those customers who have been let down by the failure of Usio. "Customers don't need to do anything at this point; we will be in contact with every customer shortly to wel- come them to First Utility and explain the next steps." Customers will not be charged exit fees if they decide to leave First Utility or if they decide to switch supplier before the transfer has been completed. The collapse of Usio has prompted predictions that other small energy suppliers could also close before the end of the year. KP ENERGY Ofgem looks to post- cap 'digital divide' Ofgem is exploring new special safeguards to protect less digitally savvy customers from being overcharged aer the price cap is lied, the regulator's chief executive has revealed. Delivering the keynote speech at the end of Energy UK's annual conference on 16 October, Dermot Nolan said: "However competitive the energy market becomes, we still believe some people are likely to continue to struggle to engage. "As the market becomes more complex and data rich, if we don't tackle potential digital divisions they could widen, leav- ing the disengaged even worse off than today. "We are planning actively to think about default arrange- ments in the future to make them simple and straightforward and still allow innovation to continue." He said one option under the microscope is to pool disengaged customers with a central default provider where they would pay the same basic rate, based on simple "pass through" supply costs. Nolan said an alternative might be to introduce collec- tive switching whereby default customers are auto-switched to a better deal unless they opt out. At the Energy UK conference, Nolan said Ofgem is aiming to issue a final decision on the level of the price cap early next month, with a view to introduc- ing it early next year. Ofgem's CEO also said the regulator will outline proposals over the next month on shiing to a greater reliance on network connection charges rather than how much electricity customers use. WATER Concrete made from recycled wastewater Yorkshire Water has begun a trial with reused treated water that it hopes will inform the way water is provided to businesses. In what it describes as a "UK industry first", the company has transferred reused water from a wastewater treatment plant to construction solutions provider Tarmac to produce concrete. Reusing water has the poten- tial to reduce pressure on the drinking water supply network, lower the costs of water treat- ment, and reduce carbon emis- sions, Yorkshire Water said. Tarmac used the water to create concrete at its site in Bradford, which was then transported to Yorkshire Water's Esholt wastewater treatment site, where it was poured into a series of 10x20m slabs. These slabs will be used as founda- tions for a National Test Centre for emerging water technologies. The concrete slabs will be tested over time to assess their strength, colour and long-term weathering properties. The tests will confirm whether the product is suitable for widespread use. Crooks: 'very pleased to be able to step in' their mortgage to borrow further via a linked "energy efficiency home improvement loan" to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. BNP Paribas Personal Finance would provide the improvement loan financing and Eon would provide a managed service to install appropriate energy efficiency solutions under this model.

• Cover