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UtILItY WEEK | 14th - 20th NovEmbER 2014 | 5 Ecotricity has shelved plans to enter the water market to focus on its existing energy business, a spokesman has told Utility Week. The independent energy supplier confirmed that "it's something we've looked at, but we've no firm plans for the foreseeable future". "We are interested, but we currently have our hands full with the energy mar- ket," the spokesman added. Next year's general election and the outcome of the Competition and Market Authority's investigation into the energy sector are viewed as "crucial" in the near future and are currently keeping Ecotric- ity busy, he said. England's non-household water and wastewater markets will open to competition in 2017, allowing businesses the freedom to switch their water and sewerage supplier, after the Water Act passed into law in May this year. The legislation could encourage new entrants to enter the water supply mar- ket, although Utility Week is not aware of any companies with active plans to do so. WAtER Ecotricity shelves water ambitions National Grid has shortlisted eight areas of natural beauty across England and Wales to benefit from its £500 million project to reduce the visual impact of electricity infrastructure. The UK's transmission system operator said on Monday (10 November) that 12 sections of its high- voltage power lines had been identified in an independent study as having the most significant visual impact on national parks, and will receive a share of the £500 million set aside to reduce the impact of lines and pylons. From the same £500 million pot National Grid is set to establish a fund that can be accessed directly by national parks and areas of natural beauty to be used for smaller landscape enhancement projects. That fund will pay out £24 million over six years, starting in 2015. Business information provider Datamonitor Energy has pub- lished its latest customer satisfaction survey for business energy providers. The survey looks at customer satisfaction, broken down to three areas that represent the life-cycle of a customer: procurement/contracting; billing and account management; and query resolution. Respondents rated each of these competencies and were asked to explain what led to the rating for each competency, Datamonitor said. Customer satisfaction scores are compared with the market average and also against key competitors in the market to provide a powerful benchmarking tool. Datamonitor names the top eight business energy suppliers SuPPliErS to SMEs 1H 2014 - 2H 2013 Full 2013 rank Company score rank score Change 1 Opus 7.67 2 7.33 ▲ 2 Haven 7.55 3 7.18 ▲ 3 Eon 7.05 6 6.88 ▲ 4 SSE 6.72 7 6.80 ▲ 5 Scottish Power 6.70 5 7.13 - 6 British Gas 6.53 1 7.47 ▼ 7 EDF 6.21 4 7.18 ▼ 8 RWE 5.70 8 6.33 - Average 6.86 7.03 SuPPliErS to MAjor ENErGy uSErS 1H 2014 - 2H 2013 Full 2013 rank Company score rank score Change 1 Smartest Energy 8.45 1 8.50 - 2 Haven 7.49 3 7.39 ▲ 3 RWE 7.30 7 7.10 ▲ 4 British Gas 7.19 2 7.54 ▼ 5 Eon 7.04 4 7.38 ▼ 6 EDF 6.94 5 7.31 ▼ 7 Scottish Power 6.84 6 7.23 ▼ 8 SSE 6.70 8 7.18 - Average 7.14 7.41 Source: Datamonitor 8,100MW New record for half-hourly wind generation, set on 20 October, according to National Grid "The staff of Energy UK know and respect him – he is well placed to lead" Outgoing Energy UK chief executive Angela Knight on the naming of Lawrence Slade as interim chief from next year