Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 10TH - 16TH MAY 2019 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Inside story The water sector 'must unite behind single vision' 9 Policy & Regulation 9 | News Smart meter rollout 'should be opt-out' 10 | Analysis Time for a climate change crusade? 11 | Chief executive's view Alistair Phillips-Davies, SSE Net zero: let's do it 12 | Market view IPPR launches the Environmental Justice Commission 14 | Opinion Tim Wainwright, chief executive, Water Aid 15 Finance & Investment 15 | News Innogy performance 'impacted' by Npower 16 Operations & Assets 16 | High viz Whitelee Wind Farm's ten-year anniversay 17 | Market view The big threat of auto-switching 18 | Event Procurement & Supply Chain Leaders Forum 21| Market view The arrival of prosumers makes advanced communications essential 24| Utility Week Live Customers and the energy transition 29 Customers 29 | News Micro businesses fail to engage with market 30 Community 31 | Disconnector GAS 17 | Market view The big threat of auto-switching WATER 6 | Inside story The water sector 'must unite behind single vision' 14 | Opinion Tim Wainwright, chief executive, Water Aid ELECTRICITY 16 | High viz Whitelee Wind Farm's ten-year anniversay 21| Market view The arrival of prosumers makes advanced communications ENERGY 10 | Analysis Time for a climate change crusade? 11 | Chief executive's view Alistair Phillips- Davies, SSE. Net zero: let's do it 18 | Event Procurement & Supply Chain Leaders Forum 24| Utility Week Live Customers and the energy transition 29 | News Micro businesses fail to engage with market 15 | News Innogy performance 'impacted' by Npower 9 | News Smart meter rollout 'should be opt-out' DOWNLOAD: How to beat the digital disruptors at their own game https://bit.ly/2MfKXA8 See the Community section, page 30 If you are responsible for your company's outsourced or internal customer service centre we can deliver compelling cost savings to your business, with a typical rate for an FTE of just £10 per hour. Synergy operates an established Contact Centre in a modern and thriving part of Durban, South Africa employing experienced and highly educated staff. We already successfully work with a number of UK utilities across a range of services: If you would like to see our operation for yourself we can fly you, at our cost, to South Africa. Here we will give you a full tour of our facilities, a presentation on how we work and access to our professional teams. For further information please contact steve.cripwell@synergyoutsourcingltd.co.uk / 020 7932 4171 or toby.selves@synergyoutsourcingltd.co.uk / 020 7932 4116 Double your successful meter installation rate and halve your costs with MATS - the new Universal SMETS2 Commissioning Mobile App from Cloud KB. It works with all DCC Adapters, supplier interfaces, workflow and job scheduling systems. MATS' purpose-built 53 Million Smart Meters by 2020? YOU MUST BE QUACKERS! AN APPSOLUTE MUST IFS: Sponsored report: Getting Ahead in the Diversifying Energy Market https://bit.ly/2MXkFkI Leader Suzanne Heneghan Let battle commence T he war for the world has begun, battle lines have been drawn and utilities are arming themselves for the challenge ahead. Yet while the will may be there to march towards the Com- mittee on Climate Change's net zero emissions target (see climate change analysis, p10), the route towards a cleaner future by 2050 is less clear. And the clock is ticking. The government's o• cial adviser is convinced that net zero is achievable, albeit with a huge leap in ambition across several criti- cal areas. The use of petrol and diesel cars, as well as natural gas boilers, must end by 2035. And clean electricity generation, a key enabler of future low-cost decarbonisation, must quadruple. And it won't be cheap, requiring tens of billions of pounds of investment every year, equating to approximately 1-2 per cent of Britain's GDP. So what will it all mean for utilities? And what do they need to do to ensure that the rapidly shrinking timeframe ahead of them is used to its optimum, which is the only way we can have any real hope of achieving the required swiŠ er electri‹ cation of transport and decar- bonisation of heating? Certainly, a lot appears to be riding on hydrogen, and the gas industry welcomes that. But government must support utilities across the piece. It must come up with genuine solutions and actions quickly, if they are to help make change happen. Policies need to be in place, along with a robust game plan for delivery. Interestingly, the Committee on Climate Change report this time makes strong reference to the importance of regulation in the new paradigm. This will be vital to ensure the sector has clear targets in its sights, and real support with ‹ nancial planning for such historic change. Without such guidelines, what some naysayers currently view as pie in the sky environmental politicking risks becoming just that. Utilities can do their bit – indeed they are already doing so. But combatting the "climate emergency" and capitalising on clean growth will take huge and consistent political e– ort. The call to arms has been made. All eyes will now be on government and any action plan that it chooses to unfold in the weeks and months ahead. Suzanne Heneghan, acting editor, suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com

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