Utility Week

Customers UTILITY WEEK | 13TH – 19TH SEPTEMBER 2019 | 27 Renewable energy supplier Orsted is to stop selling its ser- vices to small businesses, with immediate effect. The company told Utility Week it had taken the deci- sion to focus on businesses requiring 30GWh or more. It will continue to supply firms under this threshold if they are already customers, but it will not actively pursue this market in future. Morten Buchgreitz, execu- ENERGY Orsted will no longer take on smaller businesses tive vice-president of markets and bioenergy, said: "For quite some time, we have been look- ing into how we can align our Danish and UK SME custom- ers – customers with an annual consumption below 30GWh – and our energy consult- ing business with Orsted's global strategy. "The conclusion is that these businesses are not compatible with the course we have set for Orsted, despite the fact that our talented employees have succeeded in transforming and digitising the business in recent years, ensuring highly satis- fied customers and achieving stable growth." Orsted said companies in the commercial and industrial sector now represented the biggest buyers of renewable energy, signing over 13GW of corporate power purchase agreements in 21 different countries over the past year. This week Utilita appointed as SoLR for Eversmart Eversmart ceased trading earlier this month, becoming the sixth supplier to go bust this year U tilita Energy has been appointed as the supplier of last resort (SoLR) for more than 29,000 customers of Eversmart Energy, which ceased trading last week. Philippa Pickford, Ofgem's director of future retail markets, said: "I am pleased to announce we have appointed Utilita Energy for the customers of Eversmart Energy. Their energy supply will continue as normal, and domestic credit balances will be honoured. "Utilita Energy will be in contact with customers over the coming days with further information. Once it's been completed, customers can shop around for a better deal if they wish to." Manchester-based Eversmart became the sixth sup- plier of 2019 to exit the market last week (6 September), the day ašer Utility Week revealed that National Grid had filed a winding up petition against it. Meanwhile, the Energy Ombudsman has revealed that it received four times as many complaints about the supplier this year than it did for the whole of 2018. Matthew Vickers, chief executive at the Energy Ombudsman, said: "Billing and switching problems have been the main drivers of unresolved complaints about the company." The challenger energy brand was one of several suppliers who failed to pay their Renewables Obligation payments by the late payment deadline last year. It owed £367,149.82 and was ordered to pay in instalments by 31 March this year. AJ PAN-UTILITY Most will not change their lifestyle to save the environment People are reluctant to adopt environmentally friendly life- style changes although they say they care more about damage to the natural environment than ever before. That is one of the findings of a survey from Natural England that showed younger people are most likely to adapt their behav- iour, with 19 per cent of 16-24 year-olds saying they intend to make lifestyle changes. A further 25 per cent said they want to do more but don't know how, or find it difficult. Compared with those in older age brackets, young respondents were more open-minded, accord- ing to the survey, titled Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment – The National Sur- vey on People and the Natural Environment. People over 65 were least likely to make changes, with 31 per cent saying they already do a lot to protect the environ- ment and a further 39 per cent saying they are happy with their current lifestyle and would not be likely to change it. People across the brackets of 16-64 were equally likely (17-19 per cent) to have intentions to change their lifestyle, while just 9 per cent of those over 65 said they plan to. The age bracket least satisfied with their lifestyle habits was 45-64 year-olds, with just 23 per cent saying they are not likely to change. In the over-65 category, 39 per cent of respondents to the survey said they are happy and therefore not likely to change their lifestyle. This apathy towards per- sonal habits comes as calls for changes to lifestyle become more frequent amid alarm at water scarcity, the effects of climate change and pollution from single-use plastics. Awareness is therefore on the up, with public concern about damage to the natural environment at an all-time high, coupled with a rise in aware- ness and concern about loss of biodiversity in England. The survey revealed that 90 per cent of adults in England are concerned about envi- ronmental damage, a figure that has remained relatively constant since 2009/10 when it was 88 per cent. The proportion of people who are strongly concerned is 37 per cent, with respondents in Lon- don showing the least concern at 24 per cent and people living in the northwest most concerned, at 49 per cent. Meanwhile awareness about biodiversity loss is rising, with 62 per cent of people saying they are aware and concerned about the consequences of biodiversity loss in England, up from 49 per cent in 2014/15. Eversmart: customer complaints soared In June, the Danish company announced it was expanding its offering with the addition of biogas and carbon neutral gas options, designed to suit the varied requirements and budgets of UK businesses. Since 2017, Orsted has been supplying its customers with 100 per cent renewable energy. At the start of May, it announced that it planned to issue green bonds to fund offshore wind projects.

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