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UTILITY WEEK | 10TH - 16TH JULY 2015 | 31 Community Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellen. bennett@fav-house.com; News editor: Jillian Ambrose, t: 01342 332061, e: jillian.ambrose@ fav-house.com; Associate news editor: Mathew Beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathew.beech@ fav-house.com; Assistant editor (insights): Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: jane.gray@fav-house. com; Research analyst: Vidhu Dutt, t: 01342 332026, e: vidhu.dutt@fav-house.com; Reporters: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080; e: lois.vallely@fav-house.com and Lucinda Dann, t: 01342 332083; e: lucinda.dann@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Ed Roberts, t: 01342 332067, e: ed.roberts@fav-house.com; Business development executive: Sarah Wood, t: 01342 332077, e: sarah.wood@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amanda.barnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership subscriptions: UK £577 per year, overseas £689 per year, t: 020 8955 7045 or email membership sales manager Paul Tweedale: paultweedale@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. Published by: Faversham House Ltd, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 1UZ 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2014 Membership subscriptions: UK £577 per year. Overseas £689 per year. Email: paultweedale@fav-house.com Damian Carrington @dpcarrington so @DefraGovUK, forced to release #fracking report, issue at 4.30pm on hottest day, airport commission etc #gooddaytoburybadnews Callum McCaig MP @callum_mccaig In the chamber today I called on the Chancellor to bring forward incentives for Oil & Gas explo- ration to boost production and protect jobs. Leonie Greene @LeonieGreene Many thanks @LondonAssembly for Qs today. London is a world city with bold CO2 targets. It deserves & needs a world class #solar strategy. Graham Hiscott @Grahamhiscott Unbelievable. @BP_plc make huge announce- ment on Deepwater Horizon settlement then entire press office goes "into a meeting". John Deben @lorddeben Congratulations to Brian Hoskins member of UK climate change committee. Gold Medal for work on atmosphere. Gvt guided by world class science STA @thesolartrade STOP PRESS: solar now producing 16% of UK power. Calculated live by our boffin David Pickup from Kencot Hill #solar farm. #solarindependence E3G @EthreeG The energy world is on the cusp of a revolu- tion & the UK needs to be in a position to take advantage of these changes American Wind Energy @AWEA #Windpower fact of the day: Wind power uses no water to generate electricity – a major advantage in time of drought #windworks UberFacts @UberFacts There is a theory that ancient Egyptians used kites and wind power to build the pyramids. William Marchant @richonlyinname Labour calls for price cap while resets market. Conservatives condemn, commit to implement CMA. CMA calls for price cap while resets market. Top Tweets Disconnector The heatwave won't wash It's hot. Damned hot. As the country swelters under three consecutive days of sunshine (or a "heatwave", as we've all agreed it is), it's touch and go whether the nation will pull through. The trains in the south- east have had speed restrictions imposed (rails too hot – they might buckle) and freak thun- derstorms and bolts of lightning have sadly cost lives in Wales. About the only consola- tions are that the respectable newspapers get an excuse to run photos of scantily clad women (usually jumping up and down in fountains) on the front page, and middle-aged men get to wear short trousers around the office. For utilities generally, the excessive heat is pretty miser- able, especially for field staff. For water companies, of course, prolonged hot weather can spell real problems for water sup- plies. A lack of rain can deplete ground water reserves and then a hot spell can significantly push up demand. It's understandable, therefore, that water companies are ever-mindful of the need to use water wisely and are ever-ready with advice to that effect. They're only doing their job, especially as we move into mid-summer. However, when approached by a reporter from the Telegraph about what advice it had for parents in the hot weather, Disconnector is not sure that Disconnector Anglian Water was wise to reply: "We always want people to think about using water wisely. If the children have been in the pad- dling pool all aernoon, do they need a bath? Be brave. Skip bath time." Perfectly sensible advice, maybe, but it translated into the headline: "Heatwave: stop bath- ing children to conserve water, suppliers urge." Of course it did. Owen's in da House Talking of hot stuff, which we kind of were, Disconnector was intrigued to learn that the banned "adult" website that had the most attempts to view last year from computers in West- minster was sexymp.co.uk. The website presents the viewer with two randomly chosen photos of MPs and asks them to choose which they think is sexier, and last year MPs, peers and parliamentary staff tried to access it 484,683 times. It's bad news for MPs, of course. The expenses scandal made them out to be greedy, now this exposes them as lust- ful. Five more deadly sins to go, and they've got the full set. But the good news for Owen Paterson, the ex-environment secretary, is that in the league table of sexy MPs – as compiled by sexymp.co.uk – he is number two, and the only man in the top ten. That must be at least a small consolation for Owen, who was booted out of Defra in 2014 to make way for current incum- bent Liz Truss. The down side for him is that she is hot on his heels at number three. Dead reckoning The other plus side to the hot weather is that it keeps energy companies out of the sights of the tabloid media – gas and electricity bills are low, so people lose interest in the cost of energy, and there are no freak winds to blow down poles, so people lose interest in the security of supply. All energy suppliers have to do is keep their heads down and don't do anything that will obviously invite opprobrium. Things like repeatedly sending out gas bills to someone even though they've been informed that they died four months ago, for instance – especially if that person turns out to be a 93-year-old grandfather and it's the grieving granddaughter who has to deal with the bills. It practically invites a photo opportunity showing a griev- ing woman clutching demands for payment from a heartless energy supplier. And that's exactly the story that ran in the Mail Online. The supplier blamed "delays in updating his account", accord- ing to the Mail, but this didn't placate a furious Mrs Hicks of Poole, who was dealing with her grandfather's estate. You can't buy publicity like that.