Utility Week

Community might want to get down to the allotment pronto. Apples aren't the only fruit Much of our hopes for future trade deals lie with the US, and indeed Donald Trump is bull- ish about doing a speedy deal, what with us being such good mates. Unfortunately, he does little to inspire con dence. If the prez seems unable sometimes to grasp the com- plexities of the big picture, he doesn't do much better with the detail. Last week he met with Tim Cook, chief executive of the world's most valuable company, Apple, and sought to compliment him with the words "we appreciate it very much, Tim Apple", despite poor Tim having the name "Tim Cook" written on a card in front of him. Tim merely nodded along. A detail that caught Dis- connector's eye was that in the oƒ cial transcript, White House sta† had inserted a dash between the words "Tim" and "Apple" as if Trump had paused, possibly to thank both the executive and the company. It's poignant that sta† ers are still gamely trying to pre- serve their boss's dignity in the oƒ cial record. Give up, says Disconnector. That boat has well and truly sailed. Disconnector Publishing director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Content director: Jane Gray, janegray@fav-house.com, t: 01342 333004; Acting editor: Suzanne Heneghan, t: 01342 332106, e: suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com Acting content director: Denise Chevin, 01342 332087, denisechevin@fav-house.com; 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 Offi ce. 2,500 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2018 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 Paul Lewis @paullewismoney Another one bites the dust - Brilliant Energy becomes the 11th energy supplier to collapse since January 2018. A total of 841,580 retail customers have seen their supplier disappear since the start of 2018. With GB Energy from Nov.€2016 it's a million. Nick Molho @NickMolho Sector deal announcement pre- dicts global #oˆ shorewind market will grow 17% every year to 2030, from 22GW today to 154GW in 2030. Pretty staggering increase & signi' cant UK export opportunity if we get the policy fundamentals right with the competitive auction system @beisgovuk Nick Mabey @Mabeytweet The IMF thinks that even countries like Canada could boost GDP by 4% if women had fair opportuni- ties. Others countries could see growth of over 30%. So we could aˆ ord to prevent catastrophic climate change just by improving gender equality #IWDay2019 Richard Howard @UKenergywonk Shell aims to be the top global power generation company by early 2030s. This is a pretty huge goal - considering companies such as Enel already have 90GW installed capacity! Presumably this would require increase in annual renewables capex by Shell? William Marchant @richonlyinname 130,000 Spark Energy customers - nearly one in two - are being chased by debt collectors. If this is Supplier of Last Resort working smoothly, I'd hate to see what it working badly looks like. Top Tweets retrieve the hand and re-attach it anyway. The pair of them face up to eight years in jail if found guilty. Hmm. Cutting o† a limb in the hope of getting some easy money only to leave yourself half-maimed and worse o† than before… there's a metaphor in there somewhere for the UK simply screaming out… Brexit fuel for thought Sick of all the gloomy news about a no-deal Brexit? Well fear not, the government has revealed that fuel for power stations has been put on a priority list for space on ferries in the event of us crashing out of theŽEU, so at least you won't be cold. This puts power plants on the same level as vaccines, trans- plant organs and medicines, all of which have been put on a list of "critical goods" that will get priority places on government- chartered vessels if we leave without a deal. At least utilities are getting some overdue recognition, albeit the world will in many other respects have gone to hell. Plus, no space has been allocated for food, despite the UK relying on imports to feed itself. So then, no need to buy in any more jumpers in the event of a chaotic departure because you'll be warm enough, but you The long arm of the law Life is tough for utilities in modern day Britain, what with the constant stream of brick- bats " ying in from the media, politicians and the public, but if you think it's hard to earn a crust here, spare a thought for those living in countries where life is considerably harder. Slovenia is probably not the rst place that springs to mind, but perhaps it should. A" er all, how hard up must you be to literally cut o† your hand in the hope of receiving an insurance payout? This is not idle speculation on Disconnector's part because a 21-year-old Slovenian woman from the capital, Ljubljana, and a relative have been arrested and charged with attempted insurance fraud. Apparently the woman took out an insurance policy against losing a limb and shortly a" er- wards su† ered an "accident" at home when she sawed o† her own hand above the wrist with a circular saw. She stood to get a £340,000 payout and a monthly income of around £2,500. Her family took her to hospital claiming that she'd cut o† her hand sawing branches. They le" the hand at home, which police say was to try to ensure the disability was permanent, but the authorities were able to UTILITY WEEK | 15TH - 21ST MARCH 2019 | 31

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