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4 | 22ND - 28TH MAY 2015 | UTILITY WEEK National media Switching falls as campaign ends Energy UK has revealed that the numbers chang- ing supplier in April dropped by 81,000 compared with March after the end of gov- ernment's Power to Switch adver- tising campaign. 417,394 households changed supplier in March 2015 335,826 changed sup- plier in April 2015, a drop of 24 per cent 1.2m number of switches for the year to date 25% 84,471 house- holds switched to small suppliers 13% the drop on the level gained by small suppliers in April 2014 India and China call for climate change funds China and India, the world's number one and number three greenhouse gas emitters, issued a rare joint statement last week ask- ing rich countries to step up efforts to reduce global carbon emissions. The statement asked wealthy countries to provide finance, tech- nology and other necessary support to emerging countries to help reduce their own emissions. "The two sides urged the developed countries to raise their pre-2020 emissions reduction tar- gets and honour their commitment to provide $100 billion per year by 2020 to developing countries," the statement said. Reuters, 15 May Opec's oil offensive 'has just started' The world's leading energy watch- dog said the battle for market share between Opec and its high-cost rivals has "just started" with little evidence to suggest the price crash has significantly curbed supplies. While US production growth has slowed in the face of lower oil prices, the rebound of late could stop output from falling too far, said the International Energy Agency on Wednesday. Financial Times, 13 May Solar-powered water dispensers in Pakistan Punjab province in Pakistan is set to launch solar-powered ATM-like dispensers that issue clean water when a smart card is scanned. The two-foot-square prototype machine looks and functions like an ATM, but dispenses water instead of cash. Users are issued a card to claim a daily share of water. The project is a collaboration between the Punjab Clean Water Company and the Innovations for Poverty Alleviation Lab in Lahore. Reuters, 14 May STORY BY NUMBERS F ollowing Ofgem's referral of SSE to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for alleged anticom- petitive behaviour, independent network chief executive Bill McClymont told Utility Week that more similar cases could be expected. In an interview with Utility Week, Bill McClymont, chief executive of Energetics Net- worked Energy, revealed that his own organisation had "suffered" in the past from anticompeti- tive behaviour by incumbent distribution network operators (DNOs), other than SSE. Unwilling to comment specifically on Ofgem's chal- lenge to SSE, McClymont said it was not uncommon for DNOs "up and down the country" to pass on risks associated with the acquisition of land rights to independent competitors, some- times causing them to withdraw from bidding. McClymont said: "We find that if they are dealing with the customer they will take on some of the risks themselves. But if an independent has won that job, we see them passing on indemnities to the independent in full – they don't take on any of the risk." McClymont said this amounted to using "monopoly power to effectively de-risk a project". He continued: "We take the view that within a commercial marketplace, there is a degree of risk that everyone has to take. If you use your monopoly power to effectively eliminate risk and pass it on to somebody else, that is an abuse of your power." Asked if we can expect to see other DNO's referred to the CMA for these kinds of practices, McClymont replied: "My view is yes. It is becoming an issue as the marketplace starts to recover and house-building programmes start to accelerate." JG See interview, p6 'Expect more DNOs to be referred to the CMA' Seven days... 56% RWE Innogy has reported a first quarter operating result 56 per cent higher than in the previous year, at €151 million. "Exceptional performance is not being rewarded if everyone gets the prize" Citizens Advice says Ofgem is too generous with payments to network companies, which is ultimately reflected in consumer bills.