Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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UTILITY WEEK | 18TH - 24TH SEPTEMBER 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 Top Tweets Disconnector Corbyn mania Who knew? It turns out there are five horsemen of the Apoca- lypse rather than four – the fih one's a bloke called Jeremy Corbyn, or at least that's what large parts of the press say. True, for utilities he is a somewhat problematic figure. He's in favour of the state ownership of energy compa- nies, but it's not a policy that made it into the ten-point plan for energy he touted around during the leadership contest, it's just a "personal wish". Where privatised utilities stand against his other betes noires – Israel, the Queen, capitalism – is anyone's guess. Disconnector thinks comrade Corbyn is going to be far too busy dealing with the barrage of derision and rage poured on his head from almost every newspaper (and a good num- ber of Labour MPs) to bother too much about utilities. All energy suppliers have to do is keep their heads down and stay out of the papers. How to spot a problem bill It was a bad time, then, for Co-op Energy to send an erro- neous £60,000 bill to a 43-year- old man who had suffered a stroke and still has a number of serious health problems. Cue a photo of a forlorn Paul Daniels lying on his bed wear- ing an oxygen mask, with head- lines pointing out that sixty grand bought you a lifetime's worth of gas and electricity, not four months' worth. It was all because the meter reader made a cock-up and the matter was quickly resolved, but not before severe reputa- tional damage was done. This is not the first time a story has appeared about some unfortunate citizen receiving an outrageous bill for their gas and leccy, and it's a pity it won't be the last. If only there were a way of catching such mistakes at source, perhaps an automated way of flagging a suspicious-looking bill so it could be investigated by a human operator before being sent out… some sort of comput- ing device, perhaps? Look at me! The end of the world was nearly a literal reality rather than a figurative one for Primoz Ravnik, a Slovenian mountain bike enthusiast who strapped a GoPro video camera to his head and cycled down the near-vertical 60m side of a dam. The resultant video is online, as Primoz hits the still water of the river headfirst and at speed, but seems to survive the stunt. And the reason for risking his life? GoPro is running a competition called Line of the World inviting people to send in video clips of themselves in action, taken on a GoPro. Each month a winning clip earns someone $1,000. The internet is full of idiots filming themselves doing stupendously foolhardy things, and that's without the additional carrot of a thousand bucks. GoPro's competition ends at the end of October and Disconnector reckons the lawsuits from bereaved parents should start landing on desks from November. What do you want, blood? Disconnector was much taken with an invention by Mike Thompson, a 34-year-old design artist from Teeside who has made a lamp powered by human blood. Mike created the lamp using a chemical called Luminol – a specialist liquid used by forensic police to detect traces of blood at crime scenes. If you fill a bulb with the Luminol and prick your thumb, say, it produces enough blood to bathe the room in an eerie blue glow. Mike says the light burns out fairly quickly, but you can "keep topping it up". Somehow Disconnector doesn't think the ghoulish device will not catch on. No matter how much you resent paying your energy bill, surely most of us would rather just part with the cash. Disconnector Tom Greatrex @tomjgreatrex Sorry to see @CarolineFlintMP leave shadow cabinet – worked with her for 4 yrs on energy so know first hand how much she contributed. Alex Marshall @alexmarshall81 Surprised @lucianaberger didn't get Decc brief given past. But I have little idea who @lisanandy is, so'll withhold judgment. Caroline Lucas @CarolineLucas Trying to contain exasperation over unforgive- ably stupid gov't policy to apply climate change levy to #renewables Ben Goldsmith @BJGoldsmith Gov't wants to 'rein in' out of control renewables subsidies (annual total, £3.5bn). Subsidies to fossil fuels: £26bn (£400 per person). Simon Bullock @simonbullock Full house! #Navitus Bay rejection = gov't slams offshore and onshore wind, solar, energy efficiency and green cars. David Powell @powellds Another week, another lurch away from clean energy by this government. William Marchant @richonlyinname Navitus windfarm rejection boils down to a view it'd be pig ugly. Other concerns don't seem to be deal-breakers. Climate Reality @ClimateReality The truth is, solar is shattering records. Robert Wilson @CountCarbon Per person, Americans consumed three times more renewable energy in 1850 than they do today. Kay Dalton @keishadalton02 Vivien Westwood is on the news… looking as fabulous as ever and deriding fracking. Can I be her when I grow up, please? Jonathan Reynolds MP @jreynoldsMP If New Labour is dead (and it is) can we please stop calling any moderate person a Blairite? If we're going old school, let's use Gaitskillite?