3
ISSUE 03 MAY/2019
ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the
Post Office.
Published by: Faversham House Ltd, Windsor Court,
Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 1UZ
Printed by: Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton,
Derbyshire SK17 6AE.
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
Editor Denise Chevin | denisechevin@fav-house.com | 01342 332087
Design and production Michael Sullivan forty6design.com
Contributors
Greg Jones | gregjones@fav-house.com
Stephen Cousins | Nadine Buddoo | Jamie Hailstone
Publishing director, utilities Ellen Bennett | ellenbennett@fav-house.com
Business development manager Ben Hammond | benhammond@fav-house.com
Business development executive Sarah Wood | sarahwood@fav-house.com
Conference sponsorship manager Sophie Abbott | sophieabbott@fav-house.com
Membership enquiries Peter Bissell | peterbissell@fav-house.com
General enquiries 01342 332000
Flex is published quarterly with Utility Week by Faversham House.
HARVI's watching over us 4
United Utilities puts AI to work
e fourth industrial revolution 6
How AI will change everything
Technofile 7
Jason Sharpe of Social Energy
Distribution boost 8
e audacious plans of the Faraday Grid
Technofile 10
Tom Guy of Centrica Hive
No smoking 11
Can AI help limit global emissions?
Interview: Nigel Watson 12
Northumbrian Water's CIO talks to Flex
Expert view: Machine learning
and debt collection 15
Alexa, can you help? 18
It's all about customer engagement
Fill in the gaps 22
Clever ways to tackle leakage
Expert view: Customer
experience 25
Digital twins 26
Asset monitoring and maintenance
Balance of power 32
Machine learning and the grid
ISSUE 03 CONTENTS
8
10
12
C O N T E N T S
26
18
22