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4 | 9th - 15th May 2014 | UtILIty WEEK National media Consumer energy debt rising the average amount of money UK consumers owe to energy suppliers has increased by around £5 com- pared with last year, according to research from Uswitch.com. the study also revealed that the typical annual energy bill is £53 higher than at the beginning of last year. £464m total owed by UK consumers 4m households in debt to an energy supplier £128 average amount owed 9% Consumers seeking a debt repayment plan with a supplier Chinese nuclear group in $2.6bn Shanghai IPO China's flagship nuclear power operator, and partner in the UK's planned Hinkley Point project, has outlined plans to raise up to $2.6 billion in an initial public offering, as part of a larger drive by state- owned companies to diversify fund- ing sources aer exhausting loans from the country's banking system. Financial Times Network charges '£4.2bn too high' Households will pay £4.2 billion too much for their energy bills over the next eight years, according to British Gas. It said energy network companies were charging too much for their services. Network costs, which are set by energy regulator Ofgem, already account for £288 of the average energy bill – more than a fih – but will rise further, in line with inflation, over the next eight years. The Telegraph UK energy too cheap, says study The government must urgently establish a strategic authority to oversee the future growth of Brit- ain's ageing energy infrastructure, a study argued on Tuesday. Academics at Newcastle Univer- sity challenged the government's market-based approach, saying the £100 billion needed to secure energy security was not being delivered by a fragmented system that lacks central direction. The academics, led by professor Phil Taylor, argued that the country needed a "systems architect" and that energy, at least for the bulk of the population, was too cheap, leading to waste. The Guardian story by NUMbErs T he mass rollout of smart meters in the UK could be delayed by three months by the Data and Communica- tions Company (DCC). The delay is a further blow to the rollout of smart meters, which was postponed for a year by the coalition government in May 2013 aer the then bidders for the DCC contract said they needed more time to create the necessary infrastructure. Capita, which won the DCC contract in August last year, is consulting on delaying the date when its smart meter commu- nications infrastructure goes live because of "a delay to an important specification outside of the DCC's control". This could result in the DCC "go live" date, and therefore the mass rollout of smart meters across the UK, being pushed back until December 2015. Capita said: "We have con- sulted with the energy industry on what we should do in the best interests of consumers and the industry. We are assessing industry's views and we will shortly be in a position to make a proposal to government on the impact for the rollout schedule." The delay follows plans by the government to allow older specification (SMETS 1) smart meters to count towards suppli- ers' targets for the newer specifi- cation (SMETS 2) meters. Beama, the trade association for the UK electrical manufac- turing industry, said Decc's proposals would lead "to a more seamless transition into SMETS 2". A spokesperson added: "If this doesn't happen, then it's likely suppliers will wait until SMETS 2 to invest and this may have a knock-on effect on the rollout end dates." Seven days... "This is not something we ever want to do again if we can possibly afford to" The Treasury's chief executive of UK infrastructure Geoffrey Spence, addressing conference delegates on the Thames Tideway Tunnel funding plans Smart meter DCC to put back mass rollout date 20.3% average annual increase of renewable energy in the UK since 2009, a report from the Renew- able Energy association found