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UTILITY Week 23rd October

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£560,000 Ofgem told Utilita to pay £560,000 to a debt charity and cus- tomers after it was found to have blocked 40,000 switches UTILITY WEEK | 23RD - 29TH OCTOBER 2015 | 5 Scottish Power's Cruachan Power Station has celebrated its 50th birthday. It was opened by the Queen on 15 October 1965 after six years of construction by 4,000 workers to the design by Sir Edward MacColl. The power station, built into Ben Cruachan Mountain, stores water in an upper reservoir ready for use in times of peak demand, and uses surplus electricity from the grid to pump water from Loch Awe back into the reservoir. Cruachan can meet the power needs of 200,000 homes in as little as 30 seconds. "If you thought PR14 was challenging and that PR19 would be easier, you need to think again" Ofwat chief executive Cathryn Ross warned of further challenges for water companies at the Utility Week Congress on 15 October Northumbrian workers vote to go on strike Northumbrian Water faces service disruption as 61 per cent of its workers voted to go on strike in the ongoing dispute over changes the company is planning to make to its defined benefit pension scheme. A 24-hour strike will start at 8am on 26 October, with 44 Unite mem- bers at the Tees Dock Road sewage treatment works in Middlesbrough and the Northumberland Dock Road sewage treatment works in Wallsend downing tools. The announcement of the strike came as indefinite industrial action short of a strike, including a callout ban and a ban on overtime, started across all the company's sites, featuring around 100 members of the GMB and Unite trade unions. Responding to the announce- ment of strike action, Northum- brian water customer director Claire Sharp said: "We expect the majority of our 3,000 employees to continue working normally." WATER In 2014, energy firms contributed £83bn in GVA to the UK economy, equal to about... This activity supports 619,000 jobs across the country In addition, the energy sector contributed around £6bn The sector needs to decarbonise while maintaining secure and affordable supplies of energy. This transition involves a set of complex choices In 2014, the sector invested a record £15.1bn in infrastructure …an amount equivalent to £560 for every household in the UK Choices around our generation mix – today and over time – will require both sustained investment and a focus on innovation Implementation of EMR appears to have provided some regulatory stability …however, recent policy changes have eroded some of this progress A record number of firms serving the domestic market points to the investment the sector has made to increase choice for consumers Firms are also investing in their workforce …helping to create greater choice for people considering pursuing a career in energy Equivalent to 1 in every 48 jobs in the UK ...in taxes to the UK Exchequer EY this week published its annual Powering the UK report showing a record annual investment of £15.1 billion in 2014. The report highlights the fact that the energy sector creates jobs, both directly and through the supply chain. It also investigates how energy is engaged in huge investment and how energy takes seriously its responsibilities to business, communities and individuals. Full story, p16

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