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Community Disconnector Electric dream… There appears to be a disconnect between the way the energy industry portrays itself to the public and the reality of most people's everyday experience of interacting with the suppliers. Or so it seems to Disconnector. On the one hand the energy industry is all about a brave new world of electric cars, smart meters, distributed generation, shiny solar panels on the roof and a smart meter under the stairs. But in the real world, customers just want to pay a low price for a commodity we all need but n o-one actually wants to pay for. So, last week it was announced that Ikea is going to install electric charging points at all 18 of its UK stores by the end of the year, in a joint initiative with Nissan (who will be supplying the fast-chargers) and Ecotricity (renewable power). It chimes in with the flat-pack furniture specialist's move earlier this year to start stocking solar panels at selected stores, as a prelude to a national rollout. The boast is that one of the fast-chargers can replenish an electric vehicle's battery from empty to 80 per cent in half an hour. Although given that it takes three days to negotiate the rat run of the typical Ikea store, time may not be an issue. This all gives the impression that EVs are on the brink of mass-market acceptance, but how many of Ikea's customers own electric cars? EVs are a premium product, and you'd need a Picture it charging point at home to make it work, which means you'd at least need a drive to park your car on. Ikea's demographic is mostly students and young families who need to furnish a home cheaply, or at least quickly. Disconnector feels that Nissan and Ecotricity have dropped the ball on this one. They'd have been better off going to Waitrose. …or nightmare? Disconnector would not like to give readers the impression that Nissan doesn't know anything about marketing. After all, its Leaf electric car is the market leader in the UK by a country mile, so it must know something about what its customers want. The great man is not sure the same can be said of Renault, which has just announced a new feature to be incorporated in its all-electric Zoe: the ability for the manufacturer to turn off the battery remotely and immobilise the car. Now, this feature could prove very desirable for, say, a finance company: miss a payment and we immobilise your car, mate. But possibly for the very same reason, it's a really bad marketing idea. Renault has got its supply and demand curves mixed up. There's no problem finding people to sell electric cars, or to finance them. The problem is finding people to buy them, and not many people are going to be reassured if they could suddenly find their car as dead as a dodo because they've fallen foul of the finance company, garage, bank or cleaner walking past who knocks the switch with his broom. Nope, Disconnector will stick with traditional etrol, p forget to fill up, and get stranded the old-fashioned way without the help of any third party, thank you very much. Bill's a shocker It's the risk of someone mistakenly disabling your service that is the real barrier to surrendering control to someone else, and this is a problem that is going to haunt the folks given the task of demand-side management, too. No matter how stringently you put systems in place, the fact is that mistakes will happen. And happen they do. Valerie and Kerry Betts of Gartree, Leicestershire, were reported in the local press as "stunned" to receive a quarterly energy bill from Eon for £2,000, which they thought steep considering the firm has not yet raised its prices (ho! ho!). It was clearly a mistake, but it didn't seem to trigger any alarm bells at Eon, which followed up the bill with a letter to say it would be increasing their monthly direct debit from £155 to £900. The couple rang Eon, who eventually recognised it had made a mistake and rectified the problem, but it couldn't explain how it had happened. British Gas used to have a slogan along the lines of "it's nice to be in control". Unfortunately for the energy industry, that's all too true. Editor: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellen.bennett@fav-house.com; Energy editor: Megan Darby, t: 01342 332087, e: megan.darby@fav-house.com; Features editor: Karma Ockenden, t: 01342 332086, e: karma.ockenden@fav-house. com; Reporter: Mathew Beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathew.beech@fav-house.com; Reporter: Conor McGlone, t: 01342 332083, e: conor.mcglone@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, t: 01342 332085; Business development manager: Ed Roberts, t: 01342 332067, e: ed.roberts@fav-house.com; Sales executive: Nicky Shaw, t: 01342 332070, e: nicky.shaw@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amanda.barnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Subscriptions: UK £543 per year, Overseas £655 per year, t: 01342 332011. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. Published by: Faversham House Ltd, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 1UZ They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and Southern Water was certainly hoping so when it took to the streets of Worthing with this 3D artwork of fat in a sewer to try to get the message across to the good people of West Sussex: don't pour fat down the sink. Worthing Mayor Bob Smytherman was there to support the initiative at The Montague Centre. Tache-tastic Spotted by mates of Disconnector out and about and doing their bit for Movember, shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex and SSE's policy & research director Keith MacLean. Subscriptions: UK £543 per year, Overseas £655 per year fhcustomerservices@ abacusemedia.com 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2012 UTILITY WEEK | 22nd - 28th November 2013 | 31