Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 20TH - 26TH SEPTEMBER 2019 | 15 Policy & Regulation This week Smart deadline may be extended to 2024 BEIS proposes introducing a smart meter monitoring framework period from 2021 to 2024 The smart meter rollout deadline could be extended to 2024, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced. Initially, suppliers were given until the end of 2020 to make all reasonable steps to offer every home a smart meter – a target that has looked increasingly impossible over the past few years. In a consultation released on 16 September, BEIS proposes to introduce a monitoring framework period from 2021 to 2024. During this time, milestones would be introduced, with the achievement of a minimum smart meter coverage of 85 per cent at the end of the frame- work period. BEIS says this would be expected to deliver an additional net benefit of around £1.5 billion compared with a "do nothing" policy where the New and Replace- ment Obligation (NRO) is the sole obligation on energy suppliers relating to the installation of smart meters. The department added that it is the government's view that relying solely on the NRO implemented on 30 June this year would be "insufficient to deliver a market-wide rollout in a timely manner that supports the transition to a smart energy system". Consumer body Citizens Advice has previously called for the deadline to be extended until 2023. Responding to the announcement, Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: "Extending the smart meter rollout deadline is a common-sense move that is good news for consumers." AJ WATER Anglian fined for sewage incident Anglian has been ordered to pay £156,000 for polluting a brook in Northamptonshire with sewage ašer failing to maintain a pumping station. The Environment Agency pros- ecuted the company ašer finding failings at its Yardley Hastings sewage plant in August 2016. Failures at the pumping sta- tion caused sewage to back up in the storage tank, which then discharged into the brook. The brook was contaminated with sewage for two days and was found to contain toxic levels of ammonia, but did not kill fish or invertebrates. An alert to indicate a problem was mistakenly closed down without resolution, so the incident was not dealt with. Environment Agency investi- gations found Anglian's records were not up to date for cleaning and maintenance for the equip- ment that was at fault, despite three maintenance visits in the year leading up to the incident. The pollution was reported on 24 August but was not acted on and the company had no record of the report being made. It was therefore leš untreated for two days – by which time it had spread over a kilometre and a half. Under the terms of its permit the company was required to maintain a 24-hour alarm system in case the pumping station broke down or failed and a separate alarm system should have notified staff when the tank overflowed to the brook. Adam Glassford, senior environment officer at the Envi- ronment Agency, said: "Earlier this year, we pledged a tougher approach towards water com- panies that don't live up to their environmental responsibilities, and this case proves that we will hold them to account when they pollute the natural environment." ELECTRICITY Ofgem delays settlement decision Ofgem has delayed the final decision on its plans for the introduction of mandatory half-hourly electricity settlement for households and small non- domestic customers until the third quarter of 2020. The decision was previously scheduled for the second half of 2019, but had already been delayed from the first half of 2018. Ofgem said it has revised the timetable for its significant code review looking at settlement reform to take account of "some unavoidable delays". The regulator will use the extra time to further develop the target operating model recently recommended by a workgroup chaired by code administrator Elexon. Against the wall: 2020 target looked impossible Political Agenda David Blackman "The UK will need to have its climate change house in order" "A little less conversation, a little more action" will be the theme tune at next year's COP26. The UN's climate change conference, to be hosted in Glas- gow, is when world governments must show how they will imple- ment the emission reduction pledges they signed up to. The news is a feather in the cap for the international reputa- tion of the UK government, which has been battered by the ongoing ructions surrounding Britain's withdrawal from the EU. down as energy minister to take on the presidency of the COP talks, the UK has a staunch advocate of the green agenda. She will be able to adopt a single-minded focus on the role, but will be undertaking it from outside government, unlike her immediate predecessors. Nobody doubts the soon to be ex-Devizes MP's commitment to the climate change battle. The question is whether she will be able to pull the Whitehall levers to translate rhetoric into action. The UK's success in landing this landmark event recognises the government's commitment to becoming the first major economy to adopt the 2050 net zero emissions target. But the UK will have to ensure its climate change house is in order by the time delegates arrive in Scotland late next year. While emissions from the UK's power sector have plunged, those from transport have continued to climb. Next year's deadline therefore puts pressure on the UK government to accel- erate its progress on reining in emissions at a time when it faces more immediate challenges. In Claire Perry, who stepped

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