Utility Week

4 | 25TH - 31ST OCTOBER 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... Scots public energy firm still far away The Scottish government has come under fire for failing to deliver on its promise to set up a publicly owned, not-for-profit energy company. It was part of the SNP's mani- festo for the 2016 Holyrood election and was unveiled as a key policy the following year. However, the Scottish government has so far only spent £300,000 on a report assess- ing its feasibility. A second report has been com- missioned, but no publication date has been given. "So far, this scheme has wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money and not gener- ated a single unit of energy for any- one," said Murdo Fraser, Scottish Conservative finance spokesman. The Sunday Times Oil giants may have made a bad bet on gas Strikes by schoolchildren, the rise of "flight-shaming" and an exodus of investors have le‰ the energy industry reeling. Oil giants' multi- billion-pound bet – that gas will power the global economy into a low-carbon future – now looks risky. The oil majors have staked huge sums on the dash for gas, hoping gas would usurp coal as the fuel for a lower-carbon future. Suddenly, those huge gas bets are starting to look precarious. The Sunday Times Ofgem accused of stalling EV rollout The energy regulator has been accused by Scottish Power of hindering the UK's electric vehicle rollout due to its "colossal discon- nect" with Britain's climate policies. Chief executive Keith Anderson said businesses in the sector could do more to help the UK become a carbon neutral economy, but efforts are being held back by Ofgem's outdated regulation. The Guardian In the media Eon: jobs to go as price cap hurts 'broken' retail market A senior figure at Eon, which this week announced it was cutting up to 600 UK jobs, has described the energy retail market as "broken". Sara Vaughan, the group's political and regulatory affairs director, said the risk-reward balance in the sector was out of sync and warned that suppli- ers would struggle to make the changes demanded of them unless they were given more room to manoeuvre. Eon, which has around 9,000 workers in the UK, is making its second round of job cuts in just over a year. Last autumn the company removed around 500 roles and is seeking to do the same again this year across sup- port activities and managerial positions. In an official statement, the company pointed to the impact of the price cap, which it said had "massively distorted" the market. Speaking at an Energy UK conference, Vaughan said: "The retail market feels broken at the moment. I have fears about our ability to deliver the great change that we need to unless we see amendments to that market itself. "We are operating under a price cap which [Ofgem chief executive] Dermot Nolan described as tough. It has been set with the expectation that companies will on average earn a margin of -1 per cent. A number of suppliers have been consistently pricing below cost. An average of one company per month crashed out of the market in 2018, leaving behind £200 million in unpaid bills which the rest of us had to pick up. Other players, even long established ones, are bowing out voluntar- ily because they just can't see a profitable future. "The risk-reward balance is completely out of sync. You're facing 10 per cent of turnover fines if you get things wrong, but you're making no money." JW "I am not interested in warm words and that's what you get all the time. What we want is a plan with some deliverables – saying 'here is the money'" Sir John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, says the government accepted 42 recommendations made by the NIC but has acted on only ten of them. STORY BY NUMBERS Hydrogen for homes The North West Hydrogen Alliance says domestic homes will be heated with hydrogen for the "first time" within five years via HyNet, a hydrogen and carbon capture, usage and storage project. 2024 Date by which hydrogen could be blended into the gas grid. 100% Industrial sites will be supplied with 100 per cent hydrogen. 20% Two million homes will receive a blend consisting of up to 20% per cent. Eventually homes will be supplied with 100 per cent. 1m It will initially save one million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. Sara Vaughan, political and regulatory affairs director, Eon

• Cover