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UtILItY WeeK | 3rd - 9th OctOber 2014 | 31 Community Disconnector Editor: ellen bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellen.bennett@fav-house.com; News editor: Jillian Ambrose, t: 01342 332061, e: jillian.ambrose@fav-house.com; Associate news editor: Mathew beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathew.beech@fav-house. com; Energy correspondent: Joyeeta Basu, t: 01342 332110, e: joyeeta.basu@fav-house. com; Insights editor: Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: jane.gray@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, e: paul.newton@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Ed Roberts, t: 01342 332067, e: ed.roberts@fav-house.com; Sales executive: Hayley Cronin, t: 01342 332077, e: hayley.cronin@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda barnes, e: amanda.barnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Subscriptions: UK £577 per year, Overseas £689 per year, t: 01342 332011. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. Published by: Faversham house Ltd, Windsor court, Wood Street, east Grinstead, West Sussex rh19 1UZ A buyers' market If energy bosses in this country think they suffer unfairly at the hands of politicians, spare a thought for poor Vladimir Yev- tushenkov, the owner of Russian oil company Bashne. Discon- nector uses the term "poor" here figuratively. Yevtushenkov has been a shrewd political and commer- cial operator in the Byzantine world of Russian big business for 18 years or more, during which time he has forged personal links with Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev and Russian president Vladimir Putin, as well as acquiring a personal fortune in excess of £5 billion. The jewel in his portfolio of companies is Bashne, one of the last Russian oil and gas companies to remain in private hands, although not for much longer, it would seem. Two weeks ago, Russian state- owned oil and gas company Rosne, headed by Putin hatchet man Igor Sechin, was reported in the state media to be interested in buying Bashne. Alarmed about this news, Yevtushenkov hurriedly tried, and failed, to get an audience with his erstwhile friend Putin. Days later he was charged by a Moscow court with money laundering and irregulari- ties over his original purchase of Bashne, and placed under house arrest. Last week the court seized his shares in Bashne and raised the prospect that he could be forced to "pay back" billions of pounds if found guilty. Disconnector For clues as to his likely fate, Yevtushenkov need look no further than Mikhail Khodor- kovsky, at one time the richest man in Russia and the 16th richest man in the world. His oil and gas company, Yukos, was the biggest company in Russia and accounted for 20 per cent of the country's gas exports, until 2003 when Khodorkovsky was arrested and charged with tax evasion. Found guilty, he was sent to Siberia (literally) while the assets of Yukos were seized and sold off for a fraction of their market value to… Rosne. That's Russians for you. They know how to get things done. Enemies in high places Here in the land of free enterprise and unlimited executive pay, meanwhile, energy companies couldn't care less about annoying those in high places – up to and including God, it would appear. Canon Barry Naylor, of St Andrew's Church in Leicester, has expressed outrage aer British Gas took £20,000 from the church's account to settle an erroneous heating bill, despite him contacting the company to point out that it was a mistake. British Gas has since apolo- gised and repaid the money, but Canon Naylor is not happy. He fumed: "The worst part is they don't reply to phone calls, they don't answer emails. it's appall- ing the way they treat their customers." Ouch. Disconnector suggests maybe utility contact centres should have some sort of hot phone set-up to stop this sort of thing happening. Just an idea. Photo opportunity Pride comes before a fall, or so the saying goes. The great man muses thus on learning of Don- ald Trump being ambushed on Twitter. Trump is no stranger to the pages of Utility Week, with his unmatched loathing of windfarms (especially the ones spoiling the view from his lux- ury golf complex in Scotland). His propensity to sound off a range of pet hates has led him to accrue 2.7 million followers. Not all of them have his best interests at heart, however. When one of them tweeted: "Hi @realDonaldTrump. My parents who passed away always said you were a big inspiration. Can you RT for their memory?", he duly did, complete with attached photo of the dear departed, which turned out to be a photo of Fred and Rose West that was gruesomely iconic to British eyes but obviously didn't mean anything to the follicly chal- lenged American billionaire. Twitter being what it is, Trump then received a deluge of tweets asking him to retweet photos of a dead or dying rela- tive because they were big fans of his… complete with photos of historical and fictional tyrants and dictators, from Adolf Hitler to Darth Vader. 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2013 Subscriptions: UK £577 per year, Overseas £689 per year fhcustomerservices@ abacusemedia.com Ofgem @ofgem We demand action from energy companies on poor consumer complaints handling Bryony Worthington @bryworthington What I'd really like is a boiler that integrates a biodigester, converts our green waste and co-fires with it. Impossible? Paul Richards @Labourpaul The total and utter failure of the Govt's Green Deal policy would make a fascinating PhD subject Adam Scorer @adam_scorer Simple idea that complaints are best chance to do things better and earn trust seems lost on energy firms – ones who stand to gain the most Alan Webster @bareftdoctor DECC's Brian Clough like consultation: We consult about it for 3 months then we decide we were right Matthew Holehouse @mattholehouse "The country needs a bold roadmap for the future and all we got was a wayward ramble around a north London park," says @timfarron Laura Kuenssberg @bbclaurak If any undecided voter was waiting to be convinced that Ed M is PM in waiting, not very sure that was the speech that would do it… Tom Bradby @tombradby My conclusion on Ed's speech; some passion- ate bits, but a tad repetitive and not as good as last year or the year before that Rich Hall @richonlyinname Tremendous ambition from Labour on energy efficiency. But ambition is easier than delivery. Looking forward to more detail in coming months Matt Hancock @matthancockmp Crikey. Just seen that only hours after Ed Balls plea for Labour fiscal discipline, Caroline Flint commits to £1.9bn spending #SameOldLabour Top Tweets