Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 11TH - 17TH JANUARY 2019 | 5 "We support the government's proposed EU 'deal' as the most pragmatic way forward" Peter Simpson, chief executive, Anglian Water p11 More than 14,000 trees were planted at Ogden Water last month as part of Yorkshire Water's "big goal" for the environment, which aims to create a new "green infrastructure". In total, one million trees will be planted on land owned by Yorkshire Water and leased by the Woodland Trust to enhance the environment and reduce the risk of flooding. ENERGY Drax completes on Scottish Power gas portfolio Drax has completed its acquisition of a 2.6GW portfolio of gas, hydro and pumped storage assets oper- ated by Scottish Power from its parent company Iberdrola. The £702 million deal has added nearly two-thirds to Drax's total generation capacity. "As a British energy company, we are very proud to be the new owner of these critically important power stations across England and Scotland," said Drax group chief executive Will Gardiner. "For decades Drax has been at the heart of our energy system and now we're going to play a bigger role than ever. "They complement our existing activities by providing very flexible power which not only keeps the lights on for thousands of house- holds, but also provides crucial system support services to the grid, maintaining secure supplies and enabling more renewables like wind and solar onto the system." On 3 December Iberdrola and Drax announced revised terms fol- lowing the suspension of the capac- ity market because of an EU court ruling. The acquisition was approved by Drax shareholders and formally completed on 31 December. Among the assets are four gas turbine plants with a total capacity of 2GW and the 440MW Cruachan pumped storage facility in Scotland. ENERGY Eon/RWE asset swap on course Eon has confirmed that it does not expect "any material effect" on either the timing or delivery of the major asset swap between itself and RWE following the collapse of the proposed merger between SSE retail and Npower, the UK retail arm of RWE's Innogy. Concerns had been raised about job losses after reports that Npower staff were told before Christmas they would be working for Eon upon completion of the complex wider European asset swap deal. However a spokesperson for German-owned Eon told Utility Week "no decisions" had been made. "We do not expect any mate- rial effect on either the timing or the delivery of the Innogy transaction," the spokesperson added. 6 million Big six supplier British Gas is leading the smart meter rollout having installed six million devices out of 13 million installed by the entire industry. 250,000 A quarter of a million second generation (SMETS2) smart meters are operating successfully on the Data Communications Company (DCC) network. With customer service, switching and the impact of the energy price cap hitting utilities hard, don't miss the opportunity to attend the only dedicated events for customer professionals in the energy and water sectors. Book now at: https://event.utilityweek.co.uk/ energycustomer https://event.utilityweek.co.uk/ water "Delivering a high-quality service and good corporate behaviour are pivotal to the ongoing legitimacy of the water sector in the eyes of customers – and society more broadly" Ofwat senior director David Black on the regulator's publication of reports on water companies' service, delivery and financial performance in 2017/18, which showed customer satisfaction rising but still lagging other sectors. 49MW Centrica has completed work on a 49MW battery storage facility on the former site of the Roosecote power station in Cumbria.

• Cover