Utility Week

UTILITY Week 20th February 2015

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utILIty WeeK | 20th - 26th February 2015 | 5 Water SSE has opened a one-off legacy fund of £70,000 for community organisations and charities operating within the Brora community council boundary. The funding pot will be provided by SSE as part of its Gordonbush windfarm development and is in addition to the main Gordonbush community benefit fund, which distributes about £160,000 every year. Applications of more than £30,000 will be gathered in a two-stage process, with the first stage deadline on Friday 3 April. CCWater to close six regional offices The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) is set to close six regional offices as it undergoes a complaints handling restructure. The offices are in Cambridge, Darlington, Manchester, Exeter, London, and Bristol, although there are no complaints-handling staff at the latter. Up to 20 members of staff face losing their jobs if they are not redeployed within the business. The Birmingham headquarters and CCWater's Cardiff office will remain open as the watchdog adapts to a falling number of complaints in the sector and the introduction of the alternative dispute resolution system. CCWater chief executive Tony Smith said the number of complaints in the water sector had fallen from 185,140 in 2010/11 to 123,218 in 2013/14 and meant the watchdog needed to change the way it operated. Speaking exclusively to Utility Week, he said: "As the complaint numbers drop, one of the things we want to continue to be is value for money." He said the introduction of the alternative dispute resolution, which comes into force from 1 April, will also reduce the number of complaints the watchdog will need to deal with. Another driver behind the restructure was the introduction of non-domestic retail competition from 2017. On 17 February, business secretary Vince Cable visited the UK Green Investment Bank headquarters in Ed- inburgh to announce a new source of funding for community-scale renew- able energy projects across the UK. Cable said: "Renewable energy is the future, and we must continue to use all of the new and established technologies at our disposal to power our homes and businesses in a way that doesn't damage the environ- ment." Full story, p21. Community renewables "To work together, across party lines, to agree carbon budgets in accordance with the Climate Change Act" David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband pledge a united cross-party approach to tackling climate change ahead of the upcoming General Election in May and the Paris climate talks in December Brent crude prices rallied from six-year lows to above $62/ barrel but analysts warn of further pos- sible volatility ahead. See more, p27 $62/barrel ➟

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