Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 6TH - 12TH MARCH 2020 | 5 "It's important that we operators aren't hysterical about the impact of EVs. Even with large figures it won't rank as highly as, say, heat in terms of power peak" Dominque Lagarde, director of E-Mobility at French grid-operator Enedis. Drax chief executive Will Gardiner has revealed that the group is considering "alternatives" to replacing its two remaining coal units with gas turbines, saying "the lifetime of gas is probably getting shorter". The two coal units will cease operations in March 2021, but will remain available until September 2022 to fulfil their remaining capacity market agreements. ENERGY Home energy efficiency flagged The government has revealed that next week's Budget will contain fresh policies to improve the energy efficiency of homes. Recently appointed energy minister Lord Callanan announced in the House of Lords at the end of February that the government would be unveiling new measures to tackle residential greenhouse gas emissions, which rose by 4 per cent in 2018, the last full year for which figures are available. Discussing the topic of housing insulation, Lord Callanan said: "We will be announcing further policies in this field in the Budget and in the forthcoming Energy White Paper. There will be a number of upcoming announcements in this field." While he could not "predict" what these steps will include, the peer said they will seek to address the issue of higher building energy efficiency standards. See analysis, p11 WATER Karam: Ofwat 'didn't follow precedent' on Bristol's final determination Bristol Water chief executive Mel Karam has accused regulator Ofwat of not following precedent when it made its final determina- tion for the company, forcing it once again to seek a referral to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). It also appealed to the CMA over its PR14 determination. He said Bristol had expected an additional cost allowance, which Ofwat did not include, and without which its plan is not financeable. Karam said the company was in agreement with Ofwat on its performance goals but could not finance the plan without a more generous funding allowance. Ofwat did not follow the prec- edent to allow additional funding for small water companies, which Karam said was agreed by the CMA in previous appeals. He said the additional cost of financing for a small water com- pany should have been recog- nised by Ofwat "explicitly". Bristol is one of four compa- nies appealing to the CMA, along with Yorkshire, Northumbrian and Anglian. Karam said the issues for each company were likely to be different. Ofwat declined to comment in response to Karam's comments. See analysis, p10 ENERGY UK sets out Brexit energy position Efforts to ensure the continued growth of the North Sea's booming offshore wind industry will be on the agenda as the UK kicks off negotiations with the EU on a future trade agreement, the government has confirmed. In a document published last week, the government said it wanted a post-Brexit agreement to replace the Internal Energy Market, which it is due to leave when the EU transitional departure arrange- ments end next January. The paper, which sets out the government's proposed approach to negotiations on the future relationship with the EU, says this is one of a number of sector-specific deals that would supplement the wider free trade agreement it wants to secure. The proposed agreement would cover energy trading over the inter- connectors between the UK and the EU, carbon pricing, and climate change. United Utilities appoints chief financial officer Phil Aspin has been named as the successor to Russ Houlden, who will retire as chief financial officer at United Utilities in July. Aspin has worked at UU for more than 25 years, most recently as group controller – a role he has held since 2011 and which involved leading the team responsible for the group's financial reporting, as well as being the executive finance sponsor of UU's fast-tracked PR19 business plan. Houlden will retire both as CFO and from the board at the company's AGM in July. ON THE MOVE

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