Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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Seven days... National media STORY BY NUMBERS Lord Stern: 'carbon budget' talks urgent WATER KPIs FALL Talks must start urgently on the world's "carbon budget" – the amount of greenhouse gas that can be poured into the atmosphere without triggering dangerous climate change – because without radical policies to cut emissions, humanity will exceed the limit within 15 to 25 years, climate economist Lord Stern has warned. The Guardian Ikea to sell solar panels in the UK Swedish furniture giant Ikea is going to sell solar panels in the UK. The photovoltaic cells, made by Chinese company Hanergy Holding Group, will start at £5,700 for 18 panels. Following a pilot in an east London store, the product will be rolled out to all 17 of Ikea's UK stores. The Independent SSE 'will maintain dividend levels' Energy giant SSE has reassured investors that its dividend is safe after its shares fell heavily following Labour leader Ed Miliband's pledge to freeze energy bills if he comes to power in 2015. The Telegraph 47% The rise in Good Energy's pre-tax profit for the first half of this year, to £1.2 million 4 | 4th - 10th October 2013 | UTILITY WEEK Southern and South West Water came under fire from Ofwat this week, with the annual publication of company performance against key indicators showing both had fallen short on internal sewer flooding and pollution levels 3 Number of red scores each for Southern and South West Water, putting them bottom of the table 266 South West's total internal sewer floodings in 2012-13 118 Of these were repeat floodings, up from 31 the year before Suppliers may be given longer to hit Eco targets T he government is looking at extending the time that major suppliers will be given to meet their Energy Com pany Obligation (Eco) targets, according to the climate change minister. Speaking to Utility Week at the Conservative Party con ference in Manchester, Greg Barker (pictured) said: "We are certainly looking at the future of Eco and we understand that the industry would like an exten sion", but he added "we haven't taken a decision on that yet". Barker did, however, rule out the removal of green levies from energy bills and adding them into general taxation, saying there are "no plans to do that". He added: "We certainly don't want to see the cost of policy increase and that is why we are relentless in trying to drive down the cost of renew "We should get tough, if necessary funding legal challenges to American sloth" Former energy minister Chris Huhne argues that the US should be forced to share its cheap shale gas with the global market ables" by making them "scale up faster" and "reduce their need for government support". Meanwhile, energy minister Michael Fallon said the market needed independent and new suppliers to keep the major suppliers "honest". Speaking at an Energy UK reception at the conference, he said: "Of course you need the big companies with the big bal ance sheets to do your invest ment, but you also need, as you have in food underneath Tesco and Sainsbury's and so on, your second tier. "You need people to keep them honest. You need your Lidls, your Waitroses, your Marks & Spencers." Speaking to Utility Week after his speech, the energy minister also said that there was now a "window of opportunity" for new nuclear generation "for the first time in a generation". 2030 The year in which Chancellor George Osborne should introduce a decarbonisation target, according to a group of 30 high-profile industry investors who wrote to him this week