Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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4 | 13th - 19th March 2015 | UtILItY WEEK National media More Green Deal funding Energy secretary Ed Davey said this week the govern- ment was poised to launch the third round of the Green Deal home Improvement Fund. Previous rounds have seen the cash snapped up quickly. 16 Mar third round will launch, offering up to £70 million- worth of home improvement vouchers 1 wk MoneySaving- Expert.com founder Martin Lewis predicts the latest round will last little more than a week 48 hrs the previous round saw £24 million taken up within two days 6 wks The first phase offered £120 mil- lion in vouchers, which went in a month UK trade deal finances 'dirty' energy projects The UK government has become embroiled in a row over financial support for fossil fuel companies aer announcing a $1 billion (£660 million) funding package involving Pemex, the Mexican state oil group. Greenpeace said the move to provide credit for "dirty" energy projects under the UK Export Finance (UKEF) scheme flew counter to the government's commitments to fighting climate change. The Guardian, 5 March China tries to reduce coal generation China will boost efforts this year to rid itself of a strong addiction to coal in a bid to reduce damaging pollution as well as cut the energy intensity of its economy, which is expected to grow at its lowest rate in 25 years. The National Development and Reform Commission said in its annual report on Thursday that it would implement policies aimed at reducing coal consumption and controlling the number of energy- intensive projects in polluted regions. Reuters, 5 March Ex-BP boss to build major from scratch Lord Browne, the former BP chief executive, plans to exploit the col- lapse in oil prices to build a major new company using $10 billion of Russian cash. John Browne was appointed executive chairman of the oligarch- backed L1 Energy group last week and is scouring the industry to snap up assets at knock-down prices, said friends, who added that few outside observers have realised the huge ambitions Browne has to cre- ate a major global force in energy. The Guardian, 8 March story by NUMbErs A Labour government would forcibly reform the big six regardless of what the ongoing Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe rules on vertical integration. In an exclusive interview with Utility Week, shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said the party was determined to press ahead with its plans for major reform of the market regardless of the CMA's findings, due to be published aer the election. She said the CMA had access to more information than the Labour Party had in opposition, and as such may come up with further reforms than the party had proposed. However, she said "there are certain areas of policy we are absolutely commit- ted to". This was in reference to Labour's stated policy of rein- troducing an energy pool, and creating a firewall between retail and generation businesses, which would effectively break up the vertical integration of the big six energy companies. Asked whether Labour would act on vertical integration even if the CMA ruled that it did not distort the market, Flint replied: "I'm still committed to doing something in this area." She added: "This is not about companies completely divesting themselves of different parts of their organisation, it's about giv- ing transparency so people can be reassured there isn't gaming going on from one part of the business to another." Flint's comments follow the publication of the CMA's first comments on its ongoing inquiry last month, in which it sug- gested that vertically integrated firms have no interest in or ability to harm the competitive position of non-integrated firms. The full interview with Caroline Flint will be published as part of Utility Week's Lobby series on 27 March. MB Labour 'will overrule CMA on vertical integration' "The government will always have its sticky fingers all over infrastructure policy" Sir John Armitt at Water UK's City Conference Seven days... 1/3 One in three consumers would be in favour of switching to a time-of-use tariff, according to research from the UCL's Energy Institute