Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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UTILITY WEEK | 30Th JanUarY - 5Th FEbrUarY 2015 | 5 £100k is up for grabs as part of a new community energy competition launched by energy secretary Ed Davey WaTEr Northumbrian Water said that between 2010 and 2015, it plans to invest £150 million to help protect areas of the North East that are prone to flooding. Its new underground storage tank was constructed in precast concrete sections and will hold back 870m 3 of combined sewer floodwater in storm conditions. The water will then be released back into the sewer network and returned to the sewage works for treatment. The 20m by 15m by 3m tank was built under the playing field of a school in a Newcastle suburb. It is part of a £1.8 million scheme to help protect 17 homes in the area from flooding. Water UK chief exec to step down "Ultimately fracking cannot be compatible with our long-term commitments to cut climate changing emissions unless full-scale carbon capture and storage technology is rolled out rapidly" Environmental Audit Committee chair Joan Walley MP The chief executive of trade asso- ciation Water UK is to step down after nearly 17 years in the role. Pamela Taylor, who helped to establish Water UK in 1998, has told the trade association's board she will leave at the end of the year. Previously she held the post of chief executive for the Water Companies Association and prior to that worked in a management consultancy capacity for a number of years with the World Health Organisation, the NHS and the Design Council. Announcing her departure to Utility Week, Taylor said: "I couldn't have wished for a more rewarding role. It's a wonderful sector and I have had the privilege of working with such great people – stakeholders, company people and staff." She added that she was "for- tunate" to be involved in setting up the trade association, writing the first blueprint document to which the water companies signed up. Taylor said: "The sector has faced many challenges and been through some very tough times. But Water UK and our members have also achieved many successes that have benefited public health, customers and the environment." UK energy customers wanting to switch supplier can now do so from the comfort of their smartphone. Simplify digital, a price comparison and switching service, has launched a free app called Voltz, which allows users to switch energy companies with "just a couple of taps on their mobile" so they "never need overpay for energy again". Developers say the app displays information on every available tariff from all UK energy suppliers and, because the company doesn't take sales commissions, they claim the information is "100 per cent impartial". Voltz also alerts us- ers when it is time to switch, or tells them if they are already on the best deal. The app is designed for the 60 per cent of the UK popula- tion who have never switched suppliers. It is currently avail- able for iOS, with a roll-out to Android set for February. Voltz: energy smart-switching app launched 4 weeks Trade unions have called off the one-month-long industrial action amid renewed negotiations with nI Water