Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 15TH - 21ST NOVEMBER 2019 | 25 Shell Energy Retail has announced it is launching a series of boiler care and home emergency services for its customers. The energy retailer says the four policies, delivered in conjunction with AXA Partners, have been launched in response to customer demand and build on its strategy to broaden its service offering. ENERGY Shell Energy launches home emergency cover with AXA Partners AXA's network of trusted local tradespeople and contrac tors will deliver the services to Shell customers. Colin Crooks, chief executive of Shell Energy Retail, said: "This launch builds our credentials as a trusted partner in the home. "We began earlier this year by switching all customers to 100 per cent renewable electri city as standard and look forward to rolling out further services and products – beyond core energy and broadband – that will help more people save energy and money at home. "By working with AXA Partners, we're able to offer boiler care and home emergency cover that is hasslefree, easy to understand and competitively priced. Our policies will give homeowners peace of mind, This week Citizens Advice urges 'robust' protections Charity says the next government must protect consumers however they buy or sell their energy Citizens Advice has reiterated its calls for more robust protections for customers of failing suppliers and for the regulation of heat networks. In its 2019 'election manifesto', the consumer charity said it wanted to see the intro duction of a centralised system for heating homes and buildings and to ensure the Treasury's net zero review ensures the costs of decarbon ising the energy sector do not unfairly impact those who can least afford it. The charity has previously suggested the introduction of an independent consumer advocate for heat net works, which are not currently regulated. Its manifesto also called on the parties to commit to taking action to tackle "price walking" – when loyal consumers see their bills rise regardless of their commitment to a supplier. It also wants to give regulators the power to introduce more financial support and protections for the most vulnerable customers. As well as calling for better support for customers of failed suppliers, Citizens Advice stressed that the next government must make sure consumers are protected "regardless of how they buy or sell their energy". Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: "The transition to a lowcarbon economy will see major changes, including the emergence of new technology and new markets. It's critical that consumers are at the heart of this transition and that consumer protections are built in from the start. "The fundamental questions of who pays, how do they pay and how do we make sure the costs are fair have yet to be answered. It's essential that the costs of decarboni sation do not hardest hit those who can least afford it." AJ WATER Business retailer rankings revealed Yorkshire Water retained its top ranking, both as a wholesaler and retailer, in market operator MOSL's latest league table of nondomestic water company performance. MOSL's second ranking showed "significant improve ment" in Market Performance Standards (MPSs) across both retailers and wholesalers between April and October this year. However, it said there was still a need for firms at the bot tom of the rankings to improve. Yorkshire Water Business Services, the management of which was taken on by Business Stream last month, improved its MPS score from 91.1 per cent in the last financial year to 92.7 per cent in the most recent half. Else where in the large retailer table, Affinity for Business was ranked second and Water2business third – reversing their positions for 2018/19. SES Business Water was the most improved, moving from 11th place to fi¡h. Wave fell from seventh place to tenth, while Castle Water dropped one rank ing to 11th and bottom place. The smaller retailer table (fewer than 5,000 Supply Point Identification Numbers) was led by Welsh Water, with Regent Water bottom. For the water and sewerage companies (WaSCs), Yorkshire was again top, followed by Wessex and Anglian, with Thames last. Bristol topped the wateronly company (WoC) list, with South East worst rated. The tables were first pub lished in May as part of MOSL's Annual Market Performance Report. It said that since then, it had seen significant work go into cleansing data and improv ing business processes. WATER Innovation Festival to go global in 2020 Innovation Festival is set to return in July 2020 with teams working around the clock across three continents to spark and progress more ideas over the fiveday event. Hosted by Northumbrian Water, the event involves sprints, hackathons, challenges and speeches attended by people who work in, around or far removed from the water sector. Nigel Watson, festival founder and director of informa tion services at Northumbrian, told Utility Week three or four ideas out of every ten from previ ous events have delivered value for the company. To pump even more ideas from the event, the UK team will hand over to a group at Isle Utili ties in the US, who will work on the project ideas and then hand over to a team in Australia. Using a worksharing platform, Watson said "we'll see if between us we can work around the clock". At this year's festival, more than 7,000 ideas were gener ated; ten became projects that progressed beyond the event. Guy: consumer protections must be 'built in' financial certainty and a high standard of service." Earlier this year, AXA Partners announced it had secured a similar deal with Scottish Power. The deal with the big six sup plier will allow its customers to receive home emergency cover, benefiting from a 24/7 emergency response service should prob lems arise with plumbing, drains and electricity. Customers

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