Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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THEN July 2015: Scottish Power retail head Neil Clitheroe tells BBC radio it is "likely" there will be a cut in the Scottish Power standard gas price before winter. NOW November 2015: a Scottish Power spokesman tells Utility Week: "We continually keep all of our prices under review and when we are able to cut them, that is what we do." UTILITY WEEK | 27TH NOVEMBER - 3RD DECEMBER 2015 | 5 A new wind turbine designed by Ecotricity subsidiary Britwind has halved the cost of generating electricity using small wind turbines. The 25m tall horizontal-axis Britwind H15 turbine has a power rating of 15kW and is suitable for landowners such as farmers, schools and businesses looking to generate their own electricity. Customers can buy the wind turbines outright or in partnership with Ecotricity. Tackling climate change 'no excuse' for unfair bills Former Labour leader Ed Miliband said this week that energy companies should not use climate change as an excuse to inflate consumer prices. He appeared on the BBC's Today programme on Monday morning saying climate change was "the biggest challenge to politics" because it could not be addressed as part of a five-year parliamentary cycle and needed a long-term approach. However, Miliband came under fire for attacking "short-termism" in climate policy when his party backed an 18-month price freeze for energy companies, which could have hindered investment in low-carbon technologies. Miliband argued that climate change should not be tackled "at the expense of fairness". "Both of them have to go together and in fact lots of the evidence is that it's the poorest people in the world, and indeed in Britain, who will suffer most if we don't deal with these issues," he said. "I always said when I was climate change secretary that climate change cannot become an excuse for energy companies to make huge profits… and that's the point I made as leader of the Labour party. And I actually think that events have rather vindicated me because as I understand it the government is now looking at taking action on this issue," he said. Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Miliband said that the longer the UK took to comply with its decarbonisation target, the earlier it would need to meet the "zero emissions" mark. ENERGY in association with see innovation as important but less than half see it as increasingly important The innovaTion challenge innovaTion and ToTex 43% say totex will make no difference to the way they innovate 78% expect totex to lead to better benchmarking and learning from other sectors Marginal: totex is not seen as important in relation to drivers for change like odi penalties and rising customer expectations. Top Three MosT iMporTanT Technologies To waTer secTor innovaTion 87% automated systems sensors big data 85% characTerise innovaTion in The waTer secTor as "increMenTal" noT "disrupTive" 60% say there is no ultimate owner for innovation in their business 70% see risk aversion in the sector as a barrier to innovation download the full report at www.uTiliTyweek.co.uk Water sector innovation and perceptions of totex Utility Week has released a report, in association with consulting firm Arcadis, that shows operations leaders in the water sector recognise the need to innovate but are reluctant to embrace the reality of change this requires. Eighty-seven per cent of respondents said they see innovation as important to their job role. However, despite a challenging regulatory settlement in AMP6, less than half (43 per cent) said they believe innovation will become more important over the course of the regulatory cycle. More on p10. MAYBE… DEFINITELY