Utility Week

Seven days... National media Npower chief accused of dodging watchdogs Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, condemned Npower's chief executive for failing to face her committee during extra ordinarily hostile exchanges with the substitute he sent instead, head of policy and public affairs John McElroy. Paul Massara had been asked to give evidence to a hearing on the impact of infrastructure in vestment on water and energy bills. The Independent EU climate targets 'weaken renewables' The stringent renewable energy targets that have helped wind turbines and solar panels blossom across Britain face an uncertain future under the EU cli mate and energy measures unveiled last week. Green campaigners said the package, which will guide EU energy use up to 2030, weakened renewable energy goals and gave a green light to shale exploration. The Financial Times Ofwat stems returns Water companies could have to cut dividend payouts to shareholders, analysts said, after regulator Ofwat said they should accept a lower rate of return on investment than they had sought for the next five years. The plans could result in lower household bills. The Telegraph 1.4% the share of power generation that could be in community hands by 2020, under the community energy strategy unveiled this week. see p27 story by NUMbErs Gender imbalance at select committees Democratic audit uK, a research group based at Lse, analysed the gender balance of witnesses before select committees in four weeks spanning October and november 2013. the energy and Climate Change (eCC) Committee came bottom of the table for female representation. 1 in 4 of all committee witnesses were women 6% of eCC Committee witnesses were women 11 of 11 eCC Committee members are men Green Deal underspend 'should fund assessments' Green Deal assessments should be partially funded by the unspent £52 million from the Green Deal budget, according to the director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), Andrew Warren. In the Department of Energy and Climate Change's (Decc's) mid-year report, it revealed that 30 per cent of the £170 million budget that was ring-fenced for the flagship energy efficiency scheme had not been spent because the "initial levels of take-up have been lower than planned". Speaking to Utility Week, Warren said underwriting the cost of the Green Deal assessment was "the obvious thing to do" as this would encourage more people to make their homes energy efficient by installing the recommended measures. Warren added: "If we've got "Npower still has a bumpy road ahead – British Gas had almost two years of problems before it got better" So says IT analyst Stuart Ravens about Npower's billing system problems, as we look back at the company's annus horribilis. See p12 4 | 31st January - 6th February 2014 | utILIty WeeK this money around, it makes sense to divert it into getting the initial foot in the door. "It would be very sensible if we make sure the monies were spent as they were intended, which was to try and promote greater awareness of the Green Deal ethos, of making homes more energy efficient, and not just the finance package." Decc has said the spare £52 million has gone into the "plans to reform and strengthen Green Deal" announced in December, with the cash being used the help quadruple the money available to the Green Deal Communities Programme from £20 million to £80 million "to help encourage uptake" of the scheme. The underspend on the Green Deal formed part of a departmental underspend of around 4 per cent – £156 million – of Decc's £3.57 billion budget. MB £38,000 the total amount elderly council tenants in hammersmith and Fulham were overcharged for water. see p26

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