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4 | 4TH - 10TH SEPTEMBER 2015 | UTILITY WEEK National media Suppliers' H1 woes Npower's German parent company RWE revealed the domestic energy supplier's profits have plummeted 65 per cent in the first half of this year due to continuing customer service and billing issues, while fellow German energy giant Eon also revealed slashed profits due to falling generation earnings. £38m Npower profits in H1 2015, down from £109 million in the previous H1 300,000 domestic customers switched away from the supplier €4.27bn Overall profits for Eon in H1 2015, a drop of 13 per cent -29% Earnings from generation fell to €839 million for Eon Eni discovers huge gas field off Egyptian coast Italian energy group Eni says it has found one of the world's largest natural gas fields off Egypt's coast. The company said the area was 1,450m beneath the surface, covered 100 sq km, and could hold as much as 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, or 5.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Eni said the Zohr field "could become one of the world's largest natural-gas finds" and help meet Egypt's gas needs for decades. BBC News, 30 August Belfast fracking 'could contaminate water' There are fears that a reservoir that supplies water to Belfast's restaurants, hospitals, schools, of- fices and households could become contaminated due to nearby drilling for oil and gas. For more than a year the Stop The Drill campaign has tried to highlight the problems associated with an exploratory drill, located just 380m uphill from Woodburn Reservoir, near Carrickfergus, being undertaken by Infrastrata. Permission for the drill was granted on the site, which is leased from NI Water, to the oil exploration company without consultation, according to the campaigners. The controversy was due to be debated by Belfast councillors at City Hall on 1 September. Belfast Telegraph, 31 August Energy official pleads guilty over bribes A Russian nuclear energy official has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering for arranging more than $2 million in bribes to help US companies do business with the Russian state- owned nuclear energy corporation. Vadim Mikerin of Maryland will be sentenced on 8 December. The Wall Street Journal, 31 August STORY BY NUMBERS U nited Utilities (UU) faces a reported £15 million hit because of rising cus- tomer compensation costs as its battle against the cryptosporid- ium parasite finally appears to be coming to an end. More than 300,000 custom- ers across Lancashire have faced up to a month under boil water restrictions aer the company found traces of the parasite at its Franklaw water treatment works in Preston on 6 August. As a result of the disruption caused, the Drinking Water Inspectorate is now carrying out a criminal investigation into the contamination. Public Health England said there had been no confirmed cases of sickness linked to the water supply at this stage. The company is also fac- ing "a colossal compensation bill", although it has reassured customers it would not offset this cost by pushing water bills higher. Analysts at RBC Capital have estimated that UU could face a hit of around £15 million as compensation claims from resi- dents and businesses mount. The estimate is based on a previous case in Bolton where consumers had to boil their drinking water for five days and UU was forced to pay out £15 per house to cover the cost. Business customers, such as cafes and restaurants, which have suffered loss of earnings as a result of the restrictions, have been invited by UU to write to the company, providing evidence of the financial impact they have suffered, and appro- priate compensation would be worked out on a case-by-case basis. At the start of the week, half of the area affected had seen the restrictions lied and UU told Utility Week it expected "the majority" of customers to be receiving a normal service by the weekend. MB UU faces £15 million bill for crypto compensation Seven days... "It's going to put the brakes on innovation in the battery storage market" Good Energy chief executive Juliet Davenport on the impact of the government's proposed FIT cuts