Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 15TH - 21ST FEBRUARY 2019 | 5 "How can it be fair that the single occupant of a small flat should pay the same contribution to recovering network costs as a family living in a mansion?" Solar Trade Association chief executive Chris Hewitt criticises Ofgem proposals to recover residual network costs through fixed charges (see news, p14). £320 million The total pot for the government's Heat Networks Investment Project, which reopened to funding applications last week. £120 million The amount added to energy bills by the government's decision to scrap the Zero Carbon Homes standard, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. Engineers from Electricity North West (ENW) restored power to around 25,000 customers after Storm Erik brought severe gales to the North West overnight Friday and Saturday morning (9 February). Faults started to come in at 3am and by 10am 17,000 customers had their power restored, while the rest were back on by 1pm. WATER Thames Water efficiency initiative Thames Water is piloting a financial incentive scheme to encourage retailers to help business customers be more water efficient. In what the company described as an industry-first, non-domestic retailers will receive cash bonuses for delivering measurable savings with their customers across "water- stressed" London and the Thames Valley. Thames Water will reward in-region retailers with a one-off payment of 5p per litre per day of water saved for each of their non- household customers. Savings will be measured by comparing three months of meter data before and after any water effi- ciency interventions are made. The initiative will run until March 2020. Gerard Lyden, market develop- ment manager at Thames Water, said: "The business market is all about saving customers time, money and water. We know retailers have a wide range of service offer- ings and opportunities to engage with their customers, which could lead to great new ideas and actions. ELECTRICITY Cottam will close in September EDF Energy is to close its Cottam coal-fired power station in Notting- hamshire at the end of September because of "challenging market conditions". The company said it would continue to operate the nearby West Burton A coal plant until at least September 2021 when its existing capacity market agreements come to an end. Both power stations have a capacity of 2GW. Cottam plant manager Andy Powell said: "When the power station was built it was designed to operate for 30 years. It's a credit to our people, the engineering and EDF Energy's investment that it has operated for more than 50 years. There are currently 158 people directly employed at Cottam, of which 22 will be transferred to alter- native roles in the company. In Flex this month: People power in all its guises is the key theme of the latest edi- tion of Flex, Utility Week's tech- nology quarterly free with this issue. The rise of the prosumer, the apps that are helping vulner- able groups and the technology making customers happy, are some of the issues we explore. Plus, Centrica's global chief information officer tells us how the energy giant is vying to beat the very best retailers at digital transactions, we look at whether water metering can cut consumption, and ask whether citizen scientists are an answer to improving water quality.

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