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UTILITY WEEK | 20TH - 26TH MARCH 2015 | 3 Leader Ellen Bennett This week 4 | Seven days 6 Policy & Regulation 6 | News RIIO-ED1 will begin despite call for probe 7 | Analysis Water reform has only just begun, says Jonson Cox 8 | Utility Week Lobby Miliband puts energy back on the agenda 10 | Market view What the EU energy union means for national energy policy 13 | Special report Utility Week Live keynote conference day three is all about resilience in utilities 23 Finance & Investment 23 | News Eon to detail business split plans in Q2 24 | Analysis Massara's mission to overhaul customer service at Npower 25 | Investor view Eamonn Boland 27 Customers 27 | News Npower 'unlikely' to meet service pledge 27 | I am the customer Peter Pharoah 29 Markets & Trading 29 | News Ofgem rules are 'not enough for liquidity' 29 | Tricks of the trade Jillian Ambrose looks at solar power 30 Community 30 | Reader of the week Dave Hawley, ABB 31 | Disconnector Water sector reform is just beginning R eform isn't over. In fact, it's just beginning." So said Ofwat chairman Jonson Cox to a packed room of delegates last week, as, fresh from PR14, he set out his vision for the water sector over the next five years. The event had particular resonance for those who remembered a similar speech two years before – just about everyone, in fact. In that speech, Cox – new to the role and battle scarred from negotiat- ing a way out of the Section 13 debacle – laid down the gauntlet to an industry still restive from the row and anxious at the prospect of the price review to come. The six-point agenda Cox set out in 2013 was challenging and his very public approach a shock to a conserva- tive industry accustomed to strategy being circulated in dusty docu- ments before it saw the light of day. But it worked, and what was once radical thinking has now become the common wisdom around affordability, governance and gain-sharing. Cox's message, received loud and clear last week, was: "You ain't seen nothing yet." He set out a vision of a diverse and differentiated water sector where mergers and acquisitions activity drives a change in the shape of water companies rather than just the size. While the pace of change in the water sector over the past two years may have seemed rapid to those at the centre, take a step back, and Cox's point becomes clear. Twenty-five years on from pri- vatisation, there are fewer companies, but those that remain retain broadly the size and structure they had when they were floated, and in some cases, the management teams. Compare this with electricity, where the disaggregation of the value chain and the introduction of competition in the decade aer privatisation transformed the indus- try to the point that today it is barely recognisable as a descendant of the 12 regional electricity companies that floated in 1990. Water is moving more slowly, but its destination is the same. Non-household competition and upstream reform are no longer up for debate – they're realities. The changes they will drive will make the "radical" agenda Cox set out in 2013 look like child's play. The trick, for the regulator and companies alike, will be to achieve the same ends as the electricity industry without repeating its mistakes. Ellen Bennett, Editor ellen.bennett@fav-house.com GAS 13 | Special report Utility Week Live keynote conference day three is all about resilience in utilities 23 | Stock watch Centrica WATER 6 | News Labour pledges to place sustainability duty on Ofwat 7 | Analysis Water reform has only just begun, says Jonson Cox ELECTRICITY 10 | Market view What the EU energy union means for national energy policy 25 | Investor view Eamonn Boland ENERGY 6 | News RIIO-ED1 will begin despite call for probe 8 | Lobby Miliband puts energy back on the agenda 23 | News Eon to detail business split plans in Q2 23 | Market view What the EU energy union means for national energy policy 24 | Analysis Massara's mission to overhaul customer service at Npower 27 | News Npower 'unlikely' to meet service pledge 29 | News Ofgem rules 'not enough for liquidity' Knowledge worth keeping Visit the Downloads section of Utility Week's website http://www.utilityweek.co.uk/ downloads Salesforce: How the cloud can help meet business objectives http://bit.ly/1EFZjlj Vodafone: Machine- to-Machine (M2M) Utilities Insights http://bit.ly/1BDpCGZ "