Utility Week

Utility Week 17th May 2019

Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government

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UTILITY WEEK | 17TH - 23RD MAY 2019 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Interview Marek Majewicz, Interim managing director, Bristol Energy 10 | Inside story Labour plans a 'smash and grab' on the water sector 12 Policy & Regulation 12 | News ECHR 'is no threat to renationalisation' 14 | Analysis Network companies wake up to the harsh realities of a tough RIIO2 price review 18 | Analysis Utility support for WaterAid is about much more than CSR 20 | Expert view Populous explains how suppliers can thrive in the era of price comparison websites 21 Finance & Investment 21 | News Scottish Water starts £30m quality scheme 22 Operations & Assets 22 | High viz AW-Energy's WaveRoller 23 | Expert view Amey says tomorrow's world will be data-driven and customer-led 25 Customers 25 | News Centrica expects a 'challenging' year 26 | Roundtable What AI means for utilities 28 | Awards case study Why Haven Power won the 2018 Community Initiative Award 30 Community 31 | Disconnector GAS 26 | Roundtable What AI means for utilities WATER 10 | Inside story Labour plans a 'smash and grab' on the water sector 12 | News ECHR 'is no threat to Labour's plans' 18 | Analysis Utility support for WaterAid is about much more than CSR 21 | News Scottish Water starts £30m quality scheme ELECTRICITY 14 | Analysis Network companies wake up to the harsh realities of a tough RIIO2 price review 22 | High viz AW-Energy's WaveRoller ENERGY 6 | Interview Marek Majewicz, Interim managing director, Bristol Energy 20 | Expert view Populous explains how suppliers can thrive in the era of price comparison websites 23 | Expert view Amey says tomorrow's world will be data-driven and customer-led 28 | Awards case study Why Haven Power won the 2018 Community Initiative Award DOWNLOAD: Reducing bad debt, generating effi ciency and improving the customer journey https://bit.ly/2EbKRH5 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. 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AN APPSOLUTE MUST Leader Suzanne Heneghan Taking a calculated approach Leaked Labour plans for a so-called smash and grab raid on the sector brought outright dismay from water bosses this week. Yet, as one industry observer put it to me soon a er, the real surprise is that anyone is still surprised. Those Utility Week spoke to labelled as disastrous the Sunday Times revelations that if the opposition were to gain power it would pay £24 billion less for the companies than the widely accepted "true" market valuation of £44 billion (see p10). But the industry will have long suspected a low ‚ gure would be on the cards, that it would be naive to expect a Labour government to stump up full market price. Perhaps the reaction was more down to sector leaders ‚ nally being presented with stark evidence of what a new water reality could look like. Track back to Labour's election manifesto and the signs were always there – along with myriad ‚ gures about the potential cost of renationalising the sector, depending on which methodology was used to do the sums. An array of studies and data put this anywhere between £2.3 billion and £90 billion – the former if parliament were to take into account factors such as public subsidies at privatisation (according to one study, adding up to £12 billion in today's money). Meanwhile, by Ofwat's reckoning, the regulated part of England's water companies is worth around £64 billion. Complex ‚ nancial calculations aside, water companies rightly point to the changes already put in place to deliver a fairer deal for consumers within a developing regulatory social agenda – achieved without bringing water companies back into public ownership and racking up government debt. A Social Market Foundation estimate suggests the sector may need to ‚ nd more than £100 billion over the next 25 years. And all this before factoring in the costs of any new regulatory regime. In truth, there is little water companies (or networks for that mat- ter, who will be watching to see what this all means for them) can do to in– uence the politics of the day, except shouting about their continued good work and the massive investment they deliver at a low cost to the consumer. It's perhaps disappointing then that, notwithstanding the issues raised by the environment secretary, there has been no validation from government of privatisation and its bene‚ ts. Suzanne Heneghan, acting editor, suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com

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