Utility Week

Plugged in Blog Community energy is an idea whose time has come. Seven years ago, I published a report that argued that the energy system needed to be reshaped to put people at the centre. There are all sorts of reasons why it might be a good idea to reduce the market share, power and influence of the biggest players. But, although both sides of the House profess a desire to open up the energy system, until now there's been precious little detail about how that might be done. Rebecca Willis is an independent researcher who contributed to the government's Community Energy Strategy. See utilityweek.co.uk for the full blog A 389MW offshore windfarm in northwest England has generated electricity for the first time. The West of Duddon Sands offshore windfarm, located approximately 20km off the Barrow-in-Furness coastline, is being developed by ScottishPower Renewables and DONG Energy in the Irish Sea. Engineers have now installed 42 of the 108 turbines that will make up the overall project. The commissioning process is under way, and power from four turbines is now being exported to the national grid. Once completed later this year, the windfarm will be capable of generating up to 389MW of electricity – enough to meet the annual electricity demands of approximately 280,000 homes. WaTEr Bill is 'not up to the job' Labour's Lord Whitty has criticised the Water Bill, claiming it "is not really up to the job", during the Bill's second reading at the House of Lords this week. Whitty, who is the only Lord to have served on the boards of both regulators Ofwat and the Environment Agency, said the Bill "only tinkers at the edges" and that Labour would "vigorously query its main elements". Utility Week was also mentioned in the debate, as having highlighted in a recent research paper that 76 per cent of respondents favoured allowing companies to exit the retail market. 27% The 2030 renewables target set by the European Union this week, p17 "To succeed, we need to encourage the climate of dialogue" Ofwat chief executive Cathryn Ross looks forward, p6 €3.3 billion rWE writedown of its assets LinkedIn What is an acceptable profit margin for energy suppliers? Vote results: 6% (11%) 5% (11%) 3-4% (56%) 1-2% (22%) Nothing (0%) Comments: Paul Scotsland, senior business analyst at SSE: "In the current political climate, it may have been better to ask several versions of the question: generation/ transmission/distribution/supply." Dealga O'Callaghan, independent arboricultural consultant: "Energy bills contain an element from the generation and distribution sectors, which have both capex and opex elements. Supplier profit margins need to be more transparent." Join the discussion with Utility Week's LinkedIn group, Utility Week networking and news Feedback from utilityweek.co.uk Headline: Cameron: Europe needs to 'embrace the opportunities of shale gas' Mike Parr: The UK since 2008 and thus for more than six years has had the second lowest prices for industrial gas in Europe (beaten by Romania). It has not been noticeable that there has been any "re-shoring" of jobs from Europe to the UK (low-cost workforce as well). This fact calls into question Cameron's hypothesis/assertion. Company anglian northumbrian severn Trent southern south West Thames United Utilities Welsh Wessex Yorkshire Proposed cost of capital (wholesale vanilla Wacc) 4.29% 4.20% 4.20% 4.20% 4.10% 4.30% 4.10% 4.50% 4.00% 4.20% Water company shares held steady this week as Ofwat indicated plans to set the Wacc at 3.85 per cent – significantly lower than companies had hoped. See p21 UTILITY WEEK | 31sT JanUarY - 6Th FEbrUarY 2014 | 5

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