Utility Week

8 | FEBRUARY 2021 | UTILITY WEEK The top stories… What has happened? The 1,200 pages of the Trade and Coopera- tion Agreement between the UK and Euro- pean Union, signed in December, contain a number of measures that will impact on utilities, either directly or indirectly. The industry had been on high alert for a "no deal" scenario throughout 2020 with increasingly frantic calls that there were key issues that needed to be resolved, even with an agreement, to ensure that energy trading continued as seamlessly as possible. The Energy White Paper had already confirmed that a UK emissions trading scheme (ETS) would replace the EU version on 1 January. The Brexit deal went on to set out plans for a temporary continuation What has happened The government announced last year that the deadline for the Green Homes Grant (GHG) scheme would be extended by a year to 31 March 2022. However, frustration with the scheme – from energy companies, installers and customers – continues. There have already been calls for the dead- line to be pushed forward once again to give installation firms the confidence to invest. The project has also been dogged by prob- lems both for installers registering to offer their services and for consumers trying to access the scheme. What has happened The UK's largest energy supplier has been hit by a series of strikes this year with the GMB union taking every opportunity to highlight what it sees as an unjust move to make its members sign "fire and re-hire". As Utility Week went to press, the union was part way through a second wave of walkouts by GMB's c7,000 members at British Gas, which was due to complete on 1 February. This included demonstrations across the county in which members set fire to the new contracts the company has asked them to sign. Meanwhile, Labour MP Navendu Mishra has asked the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate a™er claiming recent strike action le™ Centrica customers with their HomeCare insurance not being honoured. GMB claimed 100,000 customers had been impacted. Centrica insisted all essential and vulnerable customer appointments were going ahead, while any missed visits for annual services or non-urgent matters would be caught up within contract periods. In the midst of the dispute with GMB, Centrica also lost its chief financial officer (see Review, p7). Brexit still casts a shadow over energy Centrica feels the heat A new forum will coordinate the development of offshore wind projects in the North Sea 'Huge' jobs opportunity offered by the retrofitting of energy efficiencey measures Energy efficiency measures 'should be strengthened' What they said Justin Bowden, GMB National Secretary: "The company needs to put customers and staff first by abandoning wishful thinking and taking 'fire and rehire' off the table." Centrica spokesperson: "GMB's mandate for strike action is weak; they are fighting against modernisation and changes which will help to protect well paid jobs in the long term and are doing so at a time that our country needs everyone to pull together." What this means As part of a restructuring announced last summer, Centrica is seeking to change the terms and conditions of more than 80 differ- ent types of employee contracts with more than 7,000 variations in terms by reducing this to four standard contracts across the What they said Philip Dunne, chair of the House of Com- mons environment audit committee: "The tragedy is that the short-term nature of this scheme means, regrettably, that it is having precisely the opposite effect to what was intended, with firms of builders and install- ers informing my committee that it has led to them laying off staff." Boris Johnson, prime minister: "The green jobs opportunity from retrofitting is poten- tially huge. You have to ensure the schemes being sold and the greening of homes that people are buying actually works and delivers for them the saving that they are promised.

• Cover