Utility Week

"Treating sewage to remove more pharmaceuticals will require additional technology at treatment sites at a potential national cost of billions of pounds." A Thames Water spokesman warns that changing sewage treatment standards to remove more pharmaceuticals would come with a very high price tag. UTILITY WEEK | 13TH - 19TH SEPTEMBER 2019 | 5 Water minister Therese Coffey has been promoted to replace Amber Rudd as secretary of state at the Department of Work and Pensions. Rudd quit her role in protest against prime minister Boris Johnson's withdrawal of the whip from 21 MPs who voted to outlaw a no-deal Brexit. She was joined by Boris Johnson's brother, Jo Johnson, who resigned as a minister at BEIS and said he would not be standing again as an MP. ELECTRICITY Electricity prices for businesses up 70% since 2007 Electricity prices for business customers rose by an average of 70 per cent between 2007 and 2018 – almost double the rate of inflation – according to analysis of government figures by the price comparison website Business Electricity Prices. The statistics show that the larg- est customers – those consuming more than 150GWh a year – expe- rienced the biggest increase, with their rates climbing by 88 per cent over the period. But even the smaller compa- nies – those consuming less than 20MWh annually – have seen prices increase by 58 per cent. WATER Thames Water £250m upgrade Thames Water has completed work on its £250 million Deephams sew- age treatment plant. The upgrades to the site have increased renewable energy generation on site from a new combined heat and power plant and reduced the carbon footprint of the works by a third. Martin Hoff, Thames Water's head of major projects, said: "As a result of our investment, the site is now more sustainable and ready for the future challenges of population growth and climate change." Deephams processes waste from one million people and deals with more than 200,000 tonnes of wastewater a day. 20 September: your last chance to enter The extended deadline for entering this year's Utility Week Awards of 20 September means this week will be your last chance to win one of these prestigious prizes. As usual, the big night will be at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, held this year on 9 December. From the beginning of this month it has been mandatory for petrol forecourts to use the government's new labelling scheme designed to communicate a fuel's renewable content to consumers. Petrol is mixed with ethanol, so standard unleaded petrol is labelled E5, mean- ing it has up to 5 per cent ethanol in it. Diesel can be mixed with biodiesel, so a B7 designa- tion would mean it has been mixed with up to 7 per cent biodiesel. New cars will have the same labels on the inside of their filler caps. £4.5m Ofgem has approved Together Energy's claim to cover costs during the supplier of last resort process last year when it took on the 36,000 customers of failed supplier One Select. IN OUT

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