Utility Week

"We place the climate change agenda at the absolute core of what we are doing" Boris Johnson makes his first speech to the House of Commons as prime minister. See Analysis, p6 UTILITY WEEK | 2ND - 8TH AUGUST 2019 | 5 "We should take this opportunity to ensure Ofwat has the right tools in respect of licence condition modifications" The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says it plans to strengthen Ofwat's licence powers Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to invest £3.5 billion in the Mersey Tidal Power Project if Labour comes to power. The Labour leader made the announcement on 26 July during a visit to Liverpool. The Mersey Tidal Power Project will harness the power of the River Mersey and Liverpool Bay to produce renewable energy to power up to one million homes. Work began on an outline business case for the project in May. ELECTRICITY Networks told to start making 'tangible changes' The government and Ofgem have told electricity network operators to start making "tangible changes" as part of the move towards a smarter, more flexible power grid. They issued the demand in a joint letter to the Energy Networks Association, which has revealed the responses to a consultation on its five proposed models for the future operation of the electricity system. These models, dubbed "future worlds", were developed for ENA's Open Networks Project. Of the non-network respondents, 84 per cent selected World B, in which dis- tribution network operators (DNOs) and the electricity system operator (ESO) work together to co-ordinate the dispatch of flexibility services, as the most promising option. A majority also backed World C, in which network charging and access arrangements are reformed to provide strong cost-reflective price signals to market participants. See ENA opinion piece, p24 ENERGY EDF's UK profits suffer in H1 2019 EDF has attributed a sharp decline in UK profits during the first half of 2019 to a "deterioration of conditions" in the market. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the group's UK operations were down by 75.9 per cent in organic terms to €128 million (£115.5 mil- lion) in H1 2019, compared with €485 million (£437.9 million) in the first half of 2018. The company said the results for the six months ending 30 June were negatively impacted by conditions in the UK, including the introduc- tion of the cap on standard variable tariffs, the suspension of capacity revenues and a downturn in nuclear generation. Nuclear output in the UK totalled 24.5TWh, down 5.7TWh compared with the first half of 2018. Ofgem director appointed chair of Southern Water Southern Water has announced that Ofgem non-executive director Keith Lough (pictured) has been appointed as the water retailer's independent chair. In addition, former RWE Innogy and Npower chief operating officer Kevin McCullough has been appointed as an independent non-executive director, effective immediately. Lough, a qualified accountant, has held senior board positions at Lasmo plc and British Energy plc. He has been a non- executive director of Ofgem since 2012, stepping down from that role before joining Southern on 1 August. APPOINTMENTS 36 days and counting… The deadline for entering this year's Utility Week Awards has been set at 6 September, giving would- be prize winners 36 days to outline to our panel of independent judges why they deserve an award. As usual, the big night will be at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, held this year on 9 December.

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