Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 1ST - 7TH NOVEMBER 2019 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Interview Sir John Armitt, chair, National Infrastructure Commission 9 Policy & Regulation 9 | News CMA investigates Ovo Energy/SSE deal 11 | Chief executive's view Lawrence Slade, Energy UK 12 | Analysis These are tough times to be in energy retail 14 | Opinion If we want to get to net zero, we need to lay the right foundations now 15 Finance & Investment 15 | News Scottish isles power lines denied funding 17 | Analysis Get on board for the regulatory price review roller coaster 18 Operations & Assets 18 | High viz Steuart Padwick's Head Above Water goes to Tideway 19 | Market view Clean transport is gathering speed 21 | Market view Don't leave customers out in the cold 23 Customers 23 | News Household energy profi les to be updated 24 | Event WNS roundtable on the need to share data 29 | Analysis Energy suppliers must become more digitally savvy 30 Community 31 | Disconnector Mando: Improving experiences for vulnerable customers https://bit.ly/361toNK 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 BASEC: DNOs need tried and tested cabling systems they can rely on https://bit.ly/33WYzYv https://bit.ly/33WYzYv Leader Suzanne Heneghan Are regulators really too political? Ever since Theresa May's election pledge in 2017 to tackle "rip-o " energy bills, it's felt increasingly hard to separate the latest political rhetoric from events playing out in the regulation sphere. The following year saw Michael Gove, then environment secre- tary, launch a searing attack on water bosses at their own City con- ference. Get your house in order and give customers a better deal, he warned, or he would not hesitate to strengthen their regulator's powers to enforce a new regime. Then, this weekend, the issue of the policy-regulatory divide – or lack thereof – cranked up again with revelations in a Sunday news- paper that industry investors had complained to the Treasury that Ofwat was becoming "politicised" (p4). Seasoned utilities-watchers will recognise the claim as one increasingly muttered over recent months at energy and water industry gatherings. But that the "p" word has now been levelled quite so openly at the water regulator feels signi† cant. The past few years have been bruising ones for relationships between regulators and utility providers. From the price cap, to the crackdown on water † nance models and the cost of capital, there has been little love lost. At Utility Week's New Deal Debate, Ofwat chair Jonson Cox, while careful to stress the importance of investors, was robust about the direction of travel when it came to regulation. He made no apology for "pushing hard to encourage and, where need be, to compel the water industry to reinvent itself ". Meanwhile, at Utility Week Congress earlier this month, Ofgem boss Dermot Nolan was unapologetic about how the energy cap's impact could see more † rms "obliterated from the face of the Earth". Regulators will argue their independence all day long – that their decisions are driven by what's best for the consumer, and increas- ingly the environment. But while the charge of regulatory politicisation feels signi† cant, is it really so surprising? As the government's policy encroachments into energy and its calls on net zero have shown, it's impossible to regulate a sector with responsibility for delivering the fundamentals of social and economic existence in isolation. Investors must recognise that in a sector providing a public service there is always the prospect of it becoming a political football. Suzanne Heneghan, editor, suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com COVER STORY 6 | Interview Sir John Armitt says we need to take risks to hit net-zero targets ANALYSIS 11 | Supplier failures mount HIGH VIZ 18 | Art fi nds a home with Tideway EVENT 24 | Customers need to know that data sharing is a win-win

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