Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 25TH - 31ST OCTOBER 2019 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Utility of the future The NIC comes out against the formation of a 'super-regulator' 8 Policy & Regulation 8 | News DNOs avoid penalties for connection issues 9 | Analysis Extinction Rebellion may just have done utilities a favour 10 | Market view If we want to get to net zero, we need to rethink energy regulation 11 Finance & Investment 11 | News Ovo acquires stake in Renewable Exchange 12 Operations & Assets 12 | High viz + Pool Light water- monitoring sculpture 13 | Expert view Chris Elliot, Business Director for Water North, Amey Utilities 14 | Market view The physical and cyber-security challenges of renewable energy infrastructure 15 | UTILITY WEEK AWARDS PREVIEW AND FINALISTS 25 Customers 25 | News Total Gas and Power is Rutherford SoLR 27 | Expert view Monica Mackintosh, Managing Director, Echo Managed Services 28 | Analysis Customer engagement is all about communication 30 Community 31 | Disconnector 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 IFS: Sponsored report: Getting Ahead in the Diversifying Energy Market https://bit.ly/2MXkFkI Leader Suzanne Heneghan Time to make our case for the climate Until recently, the climate change message was a study in reasoned, intellectual persuasion. Despite the immense stakes, we heard calm, composed warnings from Sir David Attenborough about the urgency of tackling global warming, backed up by measured arguments from environmental scientists. Suited, middle-class Extinction Rebellionists were just starting to articulate their case, in the same way they might behave back at the office later that day. But the mood music has changed dramatically, as those weaving their way last week to an industry briefing through a volatile crowd of angry XR protesters in Trafalgar Square agreed. "We need to do something really quickly to turn this around in our favour," said one seasoned energy executive at the table – a view met with universal backing. Yet therein lies the challenge for utilities who know they have a strong case to make on their decarbonisation agendas, environmen- tal programmes, benefits-sharing and support for the most vulner- able in society but are dogged by legacy image issues, a generally hostile consumer media and an increasingly suspicious public whose buy-in they simply must now secure. Cutting through that dichotomy, acrimony and noise won't be easy – and the sector's message must now be spot on. The business secretary's recent pronouncement that activists were "protesting on the wrong streets, in the wrong city – the wrong country", while justified in light of the UK's emissions record, did little to reverse the swell of compulsive fury over climate change. And all this before we even consider the Committee on Climate Change chair's letter to the Treasury secretary this week (see p5), which describes "the key challenge" for the department's transition review. Namely, who will pay for net zero, and how it can be funded in a way that distributes costs fairly and avoids a gilets jaunes-style backlash here? Plugging away at making industry's case seems the only answer, in the hope that sooner or later the public will recognise it as now being part of the climate solution, not the problem. Sitting just a stone's throw from the protests, my sources agreed there had never been a better opportunity to get that message out, to join forces with the public, to garner a sense of civic engagement, even, around decarbonisation. But the payment piece will be critical. The last thing this already fractured nation needs is more division. Suzanne Heneghan, editor, suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com ANALYSIS 28 | Let's talk COVER STORY 5 | News Who will foot the bill for decarbonising the economy? ANALYSIS 9 | Extinction Rebellion: friend or foe? HIGH VIZ 12 | Art with a purpose

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