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4 | 6th - 12th June 2014 | utILItY WeeK National media UU takes Scottish market by storm united utilities (uu) has become the second larg- est water retailer in the competitive Scottish market, behind incumbent Business Stream, according to its financial results for 2013/14. 150 the number of business custom- ers it has won 2,000 the number of sites it now has in Scotland £10m generated last year from retail and industrial customers 6% rise in underlying operating profit last year 4% regulated price rise Obama pushes big carbon cuts The Obama administration has launched the most ambitious plan to combat climate change in US history by proposing to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power stations by 30 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels. The move will spark a wave of legal and political challenges. Financial Times China pledges to limit carbon emissions China, the world's biggest green- house gas emitter, has for the first time pledged to limit its total emis- sions. He Jiankun, chairman of China's Advisory Committee on Climate Change, told a conference in Beijing that an absolute cap on emissions would come into effect from 2016. The Guardian Power firms double dual-fuel profits Energy companies have come under renewed attack aer official figures showed that profits from supplying electricity and gas to households doubled in the past year. According to Ofgem, profit margins on selling gas — the biggest component of a dual-fuel bill — have hit 10 per cent. The Times ScotPower warranty scandal resurfaces Scottish Power is facing fresh legal and political pressure over one of Britain's biggest extended-warranty scandals, which le more than 625,000 of its customers owed £79 million more than a decade ago, amid allegations that the energy group "deliberately evaded" repaying promised sums. The Guardian Story by NUMbErS C entrica's strategy is up for grabs aer a third high- profile executive announced his departure last week. In a sign of the intense pres- sure on energy companies, a trio of bosses is jumping ship. In the words of one analyst, Centrica is "rudderless" in "increasingly choppy waters". British Gas managing direc- tor Chris Weston (pictured) became the latest to announce his departure last Thursday, aer just 15 months in the job. He leaves to head up equipment hire firm Aggreko next year. Meanwhile, BP head of refining Iain Conn was identi- fied as the likely successor to Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw, whose intention to leave has been trailed for some time. Centrica is in negotiations with Conn over the appointment terms, which reportedly involve buying him out of performance- related share schemes worth up to £16 million. Finance director Nick Luff is set to leave for Reed Elsevier as soon as Centrica finds a replacement. The management upheaval comes as the group faces a tough upstream gas market and politi- cal pressure to reduce bills, not to mention the threat of break- up posed by a Competition and Markets Authority inquiry. Deutsche Bank analyst Martin Brough advised the new leadership to break with the current focus on upstream expansion and instead reinvig- orate British Gas. "Instead of trying to be a poor man's BG Group, in our view Centrica needs to rediscover its joie de vivre and be proud of (rather than embarrassed by) its British Gas brand," he said. MD Seven days... Centrica 'rudderless' as bosses abandon ship 700km the length of the planned undersea power link between norway and the uK, which came a step closer when Ofgem set out plans to allow interconnector operators to earn stable revenues (see p19). "The ETS enjoys support not so much in its own right as by being seen as slightly better [than] the alternatives" The annual Thomson Reuters Point Carbon survey concludes the European Union's Emissions Trading System (ETS) enjoys support in the absence of any better ideas