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UTILITY WEEK | 27Th March - 2nd aprIL 2015 | 3 Leader Jillian Ambrose This week 4 | Seven days 7 | Utility Week Lobby In-depth post-Budget coverage 10 | Interview caroline Flint, Labour shadow energy secretary 12 Policy & Regulation 12 | News Bristol to separate connections 13 | Analysis UK efficiency figures are not what they seem 15 Finance & Investment 15 | News pennon reports pr14 win for shareholders 16 | Market view Biomass plus ccS is the big win for the UK 19 | Analysis Is the Swansea Bay lagoon worth the cost? 20 Operations & Assets 20 | High viz Scottish Water's penwhirn reservoir 22 | Market view Future cities are with us right now 25 Customers 25 | News Flexible customers pay less 26 | Event Telecoms and Utilities consumer conference 28 | Market view SMEs deserve better 29 Markets & Trading 29 | News LnG imports triple as asian price plummets 30 Community 30 | Reader of the week david Mooney, drallim Industries 31 | Disconnector National Grid can't say it wasn't warned The system operator's decision this week to grant a voltage support contract to SSE's Peterhead gas plant rather than Scottish Power's beleaguered Longannet coal station (p15) has provoked a storm of outrage north of the border. But warnings that the 2.4GW giant faced certain closure without the deal have been coming thick and fast for months. It began with Scottish Power itself showily opting the plant out of the government's capacity market auction in October last year, say- ing that unless changes were made to the "punitive" transmission charges levelled against Scottish generators it couldn't guarantee it would be around long enough to make good on the deal. The company's financial reports later the same month made the point again: even though it has invested more than £200 million in recent years, including £20-£30 million last summer on boiler upgrades, the future of its Fife-based plant had "come under question", it said. This year, the run-up to the hotly contested general election has provided the Scottish National Party the ideal platform to drive its "us-and-them" political rhetoric: set south of the border, unfair and crippling transmission charges are disadvantaging Scottish generators and now threaten more than 400 Scottish jobs too. Stern speeches were delivered, strongly-worded letters written. But that's not to say that protestations from those with a vested interested in the Longannet problem don't also happen to be justified. As the dust settles on National Grid's Scottish Power snub, the very real issues over transmission charges remain, and are demand- ing redress with a more unified pan-technology voice. Few would imagine a renewables lobby group bemoaning the closure of a very old and vey polluting coal-fired power plant, for example. But even Scottish Renewables has entered the fray, incredulous that "ludicrously punitive" charges are allowed to have such permanent consequences for generators. It would be a mistake to view the Longannet furore as an isolated source of outrage. But it is one that will throw the debate into sharp relief as talks between the Scottish government, National Grid and Ofgem rumble on. The Scottish energy sector is determined to be heard – and more than ever the UK is now listening. Jillian Ambrose, News editor jillian.ambrose@fav-house.com GaS 22 | Market view Future cities are with us right now 28 | News LnG imports triple as asian price plummets WaTEr 12 | News Bristol to separate connections units 15 | News pennon reports pr14 win for shareholders 20 | High viz Scottish Water's penwhirn reservoir 26 | Event Telecoms and Utilities consumer conference ELEcTrIcITY 13 | Market view Green subsidies cleared 16 | Market view Biomass plus ccS is the big win for the UK 19 | Analysis Is the Swansea Bay lagoon worth the cost? EnErGY 10 | Interview caroline Flint, Labour shadow energy secretary 13 | Analysis UK efficiency figures are not what they seem 22 | Market view Future cities are with us right now 25 | News Flexible customers offered lower tariffs 26 | Market view SMEs deserve better 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