Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 28Th March - 3rd aprIL 2014 | 27 Customers This week Efficiency schemes are 'political football' Take-up of Green deal and Eco plans dwindles as providers are deterred by policy changes Political point scoring and changes to the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation (Eco) are encouraging providers to "sit on their hands". Speaking at a Westminster Energy, Environment and Trans- port Forum event in London, Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust, said providers "cannot be sure the policy of last week will be the policy of next week", which means they are delaying work. He added that criticism of the Green Deal and Eco "gets wrapped up" with energy efficiency and is harming the development of the schemes. John Alker, the UK Green Building Council's director of policy and communications, said the Green Deal has been turned into a "political football" and changes risk "sending a shocking message to the industry". The criticism of politicians came aŒer the latest government figures revealed only 33 Green Deal plans were signed in February, bringing the total to 1,754. That was the lowest monthly increase in the number of plans since the first 100 were agreed in May last year. Labour's shadow energy minister, Tom Greatrex, said the figures showed the Green Deal had "failed spectacu- larly" and was "getting worse, not better". However, energy secretary Ed Davey highlighted that 517,000 homes had benefited from energy efficiency measures under Eco or the Green Deal. He added: "It's clear there is a real appetite for more energy-efficient homes, which helps to reduce carbon emissions as well as creating jobs and economic growth." MB WaTEr Wales postpones bad debt legislation The Welsh government has delayed plans to tackle bad debt within the water industry. The regulations, which were out for consultation until last November, would place a legal duty on landlords to provide water companies with details of their tenants. The Welsh government said it was analysing the consultation responses, but the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) and Water UK have told Utility Week that the legislation was due to go through earlier this month. Under the legislation, if landlords fail to provide the required information within a certain period, they would become jointly liable for pay- ment of water bills, along with their tenants. Richard Jones of the RLA said: "They have delayed the introduction. They were talking about compulsion in March. They have now delayed that and said it will be sometime this year." Ian Donald, customer ser- vices director for Northumbrian Water, who is working with Water UK to launch an online portal where landlords can enter tenants' details, told Utility Week it had been intended the portal would go live this month. "The Welsh government indicated it may introduce the legislation at the beginning of March and we were asked to have the portal ready before that legislation," Donald said. The portal is now expected to go live in May. EnErGY Poll reveals support for renewables Findings from a recent Ipsos Mori poll sponsored by academ- ics and government questioned the political wisdom of govern- ment policy shiŒs away from renewables and scepticism over the origins of climate change. The survey, which included a subgroup of 16- to 24-year- olds, found that two-thirds of all respondents and 74 per cent of the younger contingent felt the benefits of renewable energy outweighed the risks. A large majority accepted the assertion that people are the chief cause of climate change: 75 per cent disagreed that humans were not significantly influencing the climate. More than three-quarters of all respondents and 85 per cent of the younger group supported offshore windfarms. Views on fracking for shale gas were split almost equally between against, neutral and supportive. Carbon capture and storage technology had the support of 51 per cent; 55 per cent said it would help to tackle climate change. Only 33 Green Deal plans were signed in February I am the customer Will Hodson "A collective switch gives people a powerful voice" The energy industry has an image problem. A poll con- ducted by Populus found that 72 per cent of consumers believe energy companies act "like a cartel" and 83 per cent say the industry is "broken". Against this backdrop of discontent, Ed Miliband's energy price freeze makes perfect political sense. We founded The Big Deal to broker a new accord between suppliers and consumers. We do this through collective switch- ing – a favourite initiative of they mobilise people who do not usually change energy provider. The energy market is compli- cated. What seems straightfor- ward is that when large groups of people promise their custom in return for a slightly better deal, companies should compete for that market share. If the big six refuse to com- pete or to create tariffs for collec- tive switches, the UK public has every right to feel exasperated. Will Hodson, co-founder, The Big Deal the energy secretary. Ed Davey is one of thousands who have signed up to our campaign. A collective switch empow- ers people to get a better deal by bargaining together. Equally important, it gives them a powerful voice. By listening to that voice, energy suppliers can rebuild their relationship with the British public. To start, they should create a new tariff in response to a collective switching campaign. For although the retail market regulations explicitly pro- vide for such a move, companies have never created such a tariff. This is odd, because a collective switch offers a financial fillip to any company, especially when

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