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UTILITY WEEK | 21sT - 27Th FEbrUarY 2014 | 3 Leader Ellen Bennett This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Special report Extreme weather in the UK 8 | Opinion 10 | Interview Tim Yeo MP, chair of ECCC 13 Policy & Regulation 13 | News Ofgem reforms aim to secure supplies of gas 14 | Market view Ofto regimes in britain and Germany 15 | Analysis Ed Davey seeks energy unity 16 | Blog Paul smith, ssE 19 Finance & Investment 19 | News Ofgem cuts returns to investors in networks 20 | Market view Investor confidence in network companies 22 Operations & Assets 22 | High viz Thames Water's Lee Tunnel 23 | Pipe up Ziko abram 24 | Analysis Will the smart meter rollout be postponed again? 25 | Market view Fleet management 26 Customers 26 | News Carbon price floor freeze 'is not enough' 27 | Analysis how utilities are trying to help elderly customers cope 30 Community 30 | Subscriber focus John butcher, regional water supplies manager, United Utilities 31 | Disconnector Select committees: not mere political theatre Search for "Tim Yeo" and "energy" on Google, and you'll find 845,000 articles in less than a third of a second. That's a good indicator of how the Conservative MP and chair of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, interviewed this week on p10, has seized the agenda on energy. His committee hearings have created numerous front page splashes and had the Twitterati in overdrive. Memorable moments include the public pillorying of the bosses of the big six last autumn as the committee sought to get its collective head around vertical integration; the dressing down the energy networks received following the Christmas storms; and the spat with Peter Lilley over climate change. Yeo is not the only select committee chair to enjoy his moment in the media spotlight. Margaret Hodge recently took the opportu- nity to give Npower a piece of her mind during an otherwise sober hearing of the Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the impact of infrastructure investment on customer bills. It all makes great headlines, but are select committees anything more than political theatre? The answer is, or should be, "yes". Thanks to live streaming and social media, select committee hear- ings have a higher profile and wider audience than ever before. Cap- tains of industry and civil service mandarins are subject to grillings that are de rigueur for politicians; conversations that would normally be had behind closed doors are open to public scrutiny; and as Yeo points out, MPs that are not dancing to the whip's tune in the hope of political advancement are able to ask searching questions of the government and others. Oen these politicians are experts in their field and able to add a great deal to the debate – Yeo himself, Anne McIntosh, chair of the EFRA committee, and several members of the ECC committee, such as Alan Whitehead, spring to mind. In these respects, the growing profile of select committees is to be welcomed. It would be a shame if this was undermined by political grandstanding and a selection of topics for inquiry more governed by the media than the public interest. Ellen Bennett, Editor ellen.bennett@fav-house.com Gas 13 | News Ofgem reforms aim to secure supplies of gas 13 | Political Agenda Mathew beech WaTEr 6 | Special report Extreme weather 22 | High viz Thames Water's Lee Tunnel 26 | I am the customer Claire holmes ELECTrICITY 8 | Chief executive view basil scarsella, UK Power Networks 9 | Expert view Trevor Loveday 14 | Market view Ofto regimes 16 | Blog Paul smith, ssE 19 | News Ofgem cuts returns to investors 19 | Stock watch Drax 20 | Market view Investor confidence in network firms 23 | Pipe up Ziko abram 26 | News Carbon price floor freeze 'is not enough' ENErGY 15 | Analysis Davey seeks energy unity 24 | Analysis Will the smart meter rollout be delayed again? 27 | Analysis supporting the elderly The 6th National Utility Week Consumer Debt Conference is a must attend for all utility companies and telecoms operators who want to their collection procedures and reduce consumer debt. At this one day event you will: get the latest updates on the Retail Market Review; find out how smart meters will improve prepay services; understand how to assess the latest technology to enable customers to manage their bills; learn how to identify vulnerable customers; explore new methods to develop an efficient payment extension; understand how investing in customer segmentation can improve collection and minimise bad debt. 26 March, Holiday Inn, Birmingham city centre Website: www.uw-debt.net