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UTILITY WEEK | 1ST - 7TH MAY 2015 | 3 Leader Ellen Bennett This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Utility Week Live review Conference coverage 8 Policy & Regulation 8 | News Can CMA restore trust? 11 | Utility Week Lobby An in-depth look at regulation and competition in the run-up to the general election 15 | Market view How much does the EU determine Ofgem's role and make-up? 19 Finance & Investment 19 | News Citi to sell £2bn stake in Yorkshire Water 20 | Analysis Do low wholesale gas prices signal a resurgence for CCGTs? 21 | Investor view Agneta Rising 22 Operations & Assets 22 | High viz Viridor 23 | Pipe up Keith Hayward 24 | Market view The benefits of going offshore with contact centres 25 Customers 25 | News British Gas loses 28k business customers 26 | Event Streetworks roundtable 28 Markets & Trading 28 | News EU accuses Gazprom of rigging gas market 30 Community 30 | Reader of the week Richard Hallett, Citizens Advice 31 | Disconnector Election endgame The clock is ticking – or is it a bomb, as our cover has it this week? The outcome of the general election on 7 May will have major implications for utilities, with a price freeze among the hare-brained schemes on the table. Here are seven critical questions any new government must answer for utilities: 1. What's the best way to bring down energy prices? The market was designed for competition to create a fair deal for customers but governments of recent years have preferred interventionism, result- ing in a hodge-podge of ideologies and unintended consequences that will take time, patience and political courage to unpick. 2. How can the UK meet its carbon reduction commitments? Energy generation is a divisive issue, with the Tories promising to halt the spread of onshore windfarms and the Lib Dems pledging to remove all unabated coal by 2025. 3. Should the Competition and Market Authority's findings on the energy retail market be binding? The inquiry was supposed to bring clarity and confidence to the market, but Labour has already insisted it plans to press ahead with structural market reform no matter what the competition authorities say. The Conservatives will be more mindful of its findings, but the Lib Dems have stopped short of committing themselves to implementing all its recommendations. 4. What is a fair profit for a utility to make, and how should it be taxed? Once the election furore has died down, expect political attention to turn to company finances. Network costs are already on the agenda with the CMA inquiry into RIIO-ED1, and political pres- sure to intervene at RIIO re-openers seems increasingly likely. 5. What's the future of the regulators? Ofwat seems safe for now, having correctly read the political weather in time, but Ofgem's future looks shaky, even if Labour loses. 6. What's the best way to protect the most vulnerable? Labour would bring in a mandatory national affordability scheme for water companies and make energy efficiency a national infrastructure priority, while the Green Deal and Eco are ripe for an overhaul. 7. What is the UK's role in Europe, or indeed Scotland's role in the UK? These fundamental questions over the future of the state have far-reaching implications for utilities. An independent Scotland would require the dismantling of the existing energy union, while the consequence of an EU exit are almost unimaginable. The Utility Week Lobby has covered these issues and more in- depth in the run-up to the election, and we'll be here to analyse its outcome, aermath and the policy agenda for the new government. See p11. Ellen Bennett, Editor ellen.bennett@fav-house.com GAS 20 | Analysis Do low wholesale gas prices signal a resurgence for CCGTs? 24 | Market view The benefits of going offshore with contact centres 25 | News British Gas loses 28k business customers WATER 19 | News Citi to sell £2bn stake in Yorkshire Water 22 | High viz Viridor 25 | News Water market needs clean customer data 26 | Event Streetworks ELECTRICITY 19 | News GDF Suez secures 15-year power deals ENERGY 8 | News Suppliers doubt CMA will restore trust 8 | News ENA: we need stable network regulation 15 | Market view How much does the EU determine Ofgem's role? 19 | News Centrica 'ready for takeover bids' 21 | Investor view Agneta Rising 23 | Pipe up Keith Hayward 28 | News EU accuses Gazprom of rigging gas market 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