Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 19TH - 25TH JULY 2019 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Interview Toddington Harper, chief executive, Gridserve 10 | Utility of the Future Sharing out the cost of decarbonisation fairly 14 Policy & Regulation 14 | News Successor to price cap a priority for Ofgem 15 | View from the top Kayte O'Neill, National Grid ESO 16 | Analysis Clamour for renationalisation grows 19 Finance & Investment 19 | News Nationalisation plans 'spook' ENW bidders 22 Operations & Assets 22 | High viz Power failure brings New York to a standstill 23 | Expert view Amey: how data will transform water services 24 | Event A report from two Technology and Innovation Council meetings 26 | Market view More extreme weather is on the way – in winter and summer 27 Customers 27 | News Government 'must police heat networks' 29 | Market view Suppliers should look outside the utility sector for best practice in customer service 30 Community 31 | Disconnector GAS 10 | Utility of the Future Sharing the cost of decarbonisation fairly 16 | Analysis Clamour for renationalisation grows WATER 14 | News Ofwat told to set out its ombudsman plan 14 | News Water fi rms must be fi nancially resilent 23 | Expert view How data will transform water services 27 | News Water fi rms 'complacent' ELECTRICITY 6 | Interview Toddington Harper, chief executive, Gridserve 15 | View from the top Kayte O'Neill, National Grid ESO 19 | News Lithium mining fi rm seeks crowdfunding 22 | High viz Power failure brings New York to a standstill ENERGY 14 | News Targets for capacity market confi rmed 19 | News Shell invests in US blockchain platform 27 | News Next day switching for 2021 27 | News Little support for green levies on bills 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 All codes lead to net zero These days there's no getting away from net zero in our industry – it's the phrase upon everyone's lips. As a colleague pointed out this week, it's impossible not to mention climate change in utilities stories anymore. Now enshrined in law, the challenge of achieving net zero emis- sions by 2050 pervades daily thinking throughout the UK's energy and water sectors – and will do for years to come. It has reset priori- ties for leaders and thrown down the gauntlet to regulators and policymakers. The manifold reach of this momentous legislation was demon- strated further last week at the AGM of balancing and settlement code administrator Elexon. Discussions about the energy system's 11 industry codes have long centred on their unco-ordinated development over decades. Consensus has been steadily building that the myriad complex, frag- mented codes be simpli‡ ed to make the system ‡ t for the future. But with net zero, the code review conversation has also moved up a gear. A guest speaker at the event, Joanna Whittington, director general energy and security at BEIS, noted the current structure's impact on eŒ ciency and innovation – suggesting some measure of support for its consolidation. A couple of other nods were made to the possibility of a new body for "strategic direction", and poten- tially greater empowerment of code managers. But, just as in other areas of industry, any key code developments would now weave into the higher direction of travel of government policy – the UK's achieving net zero by the middle of the century. Whittington told delegates how supporting the energy transition would require an agile system, with a governance framework that not only ensured security of supply at an a" ordable price, but that could easily adapt to changing demand, and support new business models and innovation. "Government's commitment to net zero will require unprecedented levels of change," she said, noting a possible "disconnect" between "the development of energy policy by govern- ment and the ongoing development of the codes by industry". Ensuring they are "explicitly aligned to government policy and bridging this gap" will be important for the future, she said, as we strive for net zero. Suzanne Heneghan, editor, suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com Who will pay for the energy transition, p10

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