Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/603117
Customers This week Majority of UU crypto payments complete UU says outstanding claims are 'awaiting more paperwork or information from the businesses' United Utilities (UU) has completed the majority of its compensation payments follow- ing Lancashire's cryptosporid- ium contamination, although a "minority" of outstanding business claims still need to be resolved. Initial estimates put the com- pensation costs for the 300,000 customers that faced a boil water notice between £15 million and £20 million. But in early September, UU confirmed that the final compensation and one-off cost bill was expected to be £25 million. A UU spokesman told Utility Week that the majority of payments have now been made. "This includes all automatic payments made to domestic and business customers, and the majority of business claims have also been settled," the spokesman said. The firm had hoped to have completed the entire payout by the end of September, but said outstanding claims are "awaiting more paperwork or information from the businesses to allow it to process the payments". The traces of cryptosporidium were discovered on 6 August and the boil water notice was placed across parts of Lancashire. UU installed UV rigs across its net- work to destroy the last remaining traces of the parasite on 20 August, flushed its distribution system and moved water from other parts of the network. The company was able to start liing the boil water notice from 27 August. UU could now be subject to a parliamentary inquiry as well as an investigation from the Drinking Water Inspectorate, which could result in a fine. LV ENERGY Eon UK blames price cut for turnover dip Big six supplier Eon UK has blamed a £300 million fall in its turnover from January to Sep- tember this year on the 3.5 per cent cut it made to standard gas prices in January. Eon UK said in its interim financial results that the decrease in prices and a continu- ing competitive environment in the business market has reduced turnover for the residential and business supply businesses by around 6 per cent to £5 billion, from £5.37 billion in the same period last year. Eon UK was the first energy company to cut its prices in January, cutting the cost to consumers by 3.5 per cent. However, Eon UK said profit has remained relatively steady, dropping by just £2 million to £156 million, from £158 million last year. Eon UK said this was largely due to reduced spend on its energy efficiency obligations, having already met the targets ahead of schedule. ENERGY £48m loss continues woe for Npower Big six supplier Npower has continued to suffer heavy losses in the past three months as bill- ing issues persist in plaguing the supplier's financial health. RWE's interim results for its UK supply businesses for the first nine months of this year reveal a loss of £48 million, down £121 million from the £73 million profit it achieved in the same period last year. Npower said the decline is due to the continuing impact of the billing system and process problems blamed for the poor financial performance revealed in its first-half results. In August, Npower revealed a 65 per cent reduction in domes- tic supply profits aer 300,000 customers moved away from the supplier. It has set a target of the end of 2016 to turn around the supply business. ELECTRICITY SHEPD reconnects 12,000 customers Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD) had restored power to 12,000 customers who lost power due to Storm Abigail by last Friday, but still had 1,300 customers to reconnect. SHEPD said its engineers worked into the night to recon- nect customers aer 80mph winds and lightning strikes caused more than 30 high- voltage faults across Scotland. SHEPD said overall the net- work "held up well" against the storm because of its continued investment. Cryptosporidium: led to £25 million bill for UU I am the customer Steve Grebby "Water firms spent £50m clearing 200,000 blockages" This month we'll be publicising some of the strangest items that have been fished from our sewer network in the past year. Some will be greeted with disbelief and laughter – but the message we are trying to get across is a serious one. In 2014/15, water companies in England and Wales spent about £50 million clearing more than 200,000 pipe blockages caused by 'inappropriate' items being flushed down the loo or poured down the sink. For But we need an industry-wide campaign if we are to influence both consumers and the manu- facturers of 'flushable' products. The seeds for this have been sown through the Water UK-led 21st Century Drainage project, which aims to deliver a resilient drainage and sewerage system. Through better collaboration we hope to bring about lasting change to a problem that it is in everyone's interests to tackle. Steve Grebby, policy manager, Consumer Council for Water many years fats, oils and greases were the chief culprits but now wet and so-called flushable wipes are rapidly becoming the scourge of our sewer network. Raising consumer awareness will be instrumental in reversing this trend and protecting more homes and communities from the miserable impact of sewer flooding. Sewerage companies have not been slow to react and many already have successful campaigns aimed at influencing their own customers' behaviour; our research reveals 64 per cent of consumers in 2014 were able to identify what they should not put down the toilet – up from 43 per cent in 2013. UTILITY WEEK | 20TH - 26TH NOVEMBER 2015 | 23