Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 17TH - 23RD JANUARY 2020 | 5 PAN-UTILITY Climate assembly panels fi nalised Leading academics, together with gures from industry, the environ- mental movement and thinktanks have been named as advisers for the upcoming citizen's assembly Climate Assembly UK. The assembly, which kicks o• the rst of its four meetings in Birmingham later this month, is designed to bring together a group of people who reflect the broader population to deliberate on how to achieve the UK's 2050 net zero target. To assist the 110 members, two panels of stakeholders and researchers have been announced, an advisory panel and an academic panel. Industry gures on the advisory panel include acting Energy UK chief executive Audrey Gallacher and Rebecca Williams, head of pol- icy and regulation at RenewableUK. The broader business community is represented by Tanisha Beebee, senior policy adviser on energy and climate change at the CBI. ENERGY Gnergy licence at risk over unpaid RO Challenger supplier Gnergy may have its licence revoked a‰ er failing to pay its outstanding Renewables Obligation (RO) payments, Ofgem has warned. The regulator announced last week that it had issued Gnergy with a notice of failure to comply with a nal order. Gnergy is the sole remaining supplier to owe such payments, with the rest having either paid or ceased trading. A nal order was issued to the company in October over its failure to pay more than £673,800, and Ofgem said the Hampshire-based supplier was unable to give it any assurance it would meet its obligation. As a result, the regulator has started the process that could result in the revocation of Gnergy's licence. In December, Ofgem revealed that almost £100 million in RO payments was owed by suppliers, many of which had already le‰ the market. Because of this, mutualisa- tion is to be triggered for the second time in as many years. Just two months after Venice suffered its worst flooding in 50 years – causing an estimated £1 billion-worth of damage – the city's canals have now run dry because of an exceptionally low high tide. Venice's mayor has attributed the weather extremes to climate change. In the UK, 2019 is expected to be 11th hottest year recorded, where all 11 of the hottest years have occurred since 2002. (See High Viz, p16). Utility Week Investor Summit 2020 This new event, the only pan-utility conference to bring together key speakers and gures from government, regulation, investment and utilities, will assess the impact of Brexit, regulation, M&A activity, infra- structure, legitimacy and climate change on future investment. It takes place on 5 March in London. For more details visit https://event.utilityweek.co.uk/investor The 'Greta e ect' According to a survey of consumers by Igloo Energy, more than half of UK households are more aware of climate change than they were 12 months ago and plan to reduce their energy consumption accord- ingly, in what has been dubbed the "Greta e• ect", named a‰ er the Swedish schoolgirl climate activist Greta Thunberg. The 'Greta e ect' According to a survey of consumers by Igloo Energy, more than half of UK households climate change than they were 12 months ago and plan to reduce their energy consumption ingly, in what has been dubbed the "Greta e• ect", named a‰ er the Swedish schoolgirl climate activist Greta Thunberg. New Yu chairman Corporate utility company Yu Group has announced that chairman Ralph Cohen is to step down, with Robin Paynter Bryant coming in as his replacement. Bryant has more than 30 years' experience working for a number of fi nancial institutions in London. He has a background in regulation, compliance and corporate govern- ance and has advised companies such as Severn Trent. Good Energy promotes FD to the board Good Energy has promoted fi nance director Rupert Sanderson to chief fi nancial offi cer and executive director, where he will join the board. Sanderson joined the company in February 2017 and was made fi nance director the following January. APPOINTMENTS Low-carbon generation growth stuttering Growth in low-carbon generation stalled in 2019 despite almost a fourfold year-on-year increase in coal-free days. Carbon Brief's analysis of electricity generation last year shows a 1TWh increase from low- carbon sources between 2018 and 2019 – a rise of 0.6 per cent. This compares with a 3.5 per cent rise in the previous 12 months and a doubling since 2010. The gures, which are sourced from balancing mecha- nism reports and government gures for the rst three-quarters of the year, show renewables output up 9 per cent (10TWh) year on year. However, nuclear fell by 14 per cent (9TWh) a‰ er outages at Hunterston and Dungeness. Fossil output fell by 6 per cent (or 9TWh) in 2019.

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