Utility Week

4 | 7TH - 13TH DECEMBER 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... Neptune looks beyond North Sea for growth Neptune Energy, the private equity backed oil and gas producer led by former Centrica chief Sam Laidlaw, plans to ramp up organic growth and exploration alongside acquisitions as the group moves to increase output. The company, which is backed by the Carlyle Group, CVC Capital Partners and China Investment Corporation, became a full-scale producer and explorer early this year aer the acquisition of Engie's oil and gas production assets, giv- ing it a footprint stretching from the North Sea through north Africa and south-east Asia. Financial Times, 2 December El Niño 'could spark extreme weather soon' An El Niño weather phenomenon could cause widespread flooding and severe drought across different parts of the world in the next three months, forecasters have warned. The likelihood of an El Niño event happening in the next three months is higher than 80 per cent, forecasters from the Met Office said, with South East Asia under threat of severe drought and other regions facing heavy rainfall. Evening Standard, 1 December Insurers in UK and US still supporting coal UK and US insurers are lagging far behind European firms when it comes to divesting from coal-heavy businesses and refusing to insure them, campaigners have warned. At least 19 major insurers holding more than $6 trillion in assets – a fih of the industry's global assets – have now divested from coal, according to a report from the Unfriend Coal cam- paign, which represents a coalition of a dozen environmental groups including Greenpeace, 350.org and the Sierra Club. The Guardian, 3 December STORY BY NUMBERS National media Ofgem names suppliers that failed to make RO payments O fgem has released the names of all the sup- pliers that failed to pay their Renewables Obligation (RO) by the 31 October late payment deadline, along with details of the amounts each company owes. The regulator said it had redistributed the late payment fund of £44,571,252 to suppliers that had presented Renewables Obligation Certificates (Rocs) this year. Suppliers received £5.42 per Roc presented aer the redistri- bution of the buyout fund. From the redistribution of the late payment fund, they received an extra 43p per Roc. This puts the final recycle value of a Roc in 2017/18 was £5.85. In total 34 suppliers failed to meet their obligation by the 1 September deadline. Of those, 20 discharged their obligation by the late payment deadline of 31 October. The total shortfall as a result of the 14 suppliers failing to pay was £58.6 million. As a relevant shortfall has been reached, mutualisation has been triggered for the first time ever for both RO and RO Scotland. In line with the RO orders, suppliers that discharged part of their obligation will be contacted to make quarterly payments to make up the shortfall, in propor- tion to their obligation. Of the suppliers that still owe money, Ofgem has started investigations into Economy Energy and Spark Energy, the latter having ceased trading and subsequently been acquired by Ovo Energy. Two other non-compliant suppliers, URE Energy and Eversmart, have been ordered to deliver all outstanding pay- ments by 31 March 2019 through monthly instalments. If a supplier makes a pay- ment aer the late payment deadline, it will remain non- compliant and the mutualisation amount is based on the amount owing on 31 October 2018. Since the announcement, both Extra Energy and Spark Energy have ceased trading and had their licences revoked. AJ For full details, including all those suppliers named, visit: utilityweek.co.uk People happy with smart meter installs Almost 90 per cent of customers said they were satisfied with the installa- tion of their smart meter, according to a survey commis- sioned by BEIS. 89% of post-installation respondents said they were satisfied with the installa- tion of their smart meter. 3/4 Three-quarters respondents in a follow-up survey a year later said they were satisfied with their smart meter. 11% Proportion of follow-up respond- ents who said they were dissatisfied. 76% Percentage of follow-up respond- ents who gave a score of six out of ten or above for the likelihood they would recommend a smart meter to someone else. "We have talked to water companies and the regulator to ensure adequate supplies are available if we leave without a deal" Environment secretary Michael Gove dismisses reports that the UK will run out of drinking water in the event of a no-deal Brexit because of insufficient quantities of chemicals to treat it.

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