Utility Week

Customers This week Wascs get ready for market opening Northumbrian Water to rebrand business retail arm; Anglian Water Business likely to follow suit The major water and sewerage companies (Wascs) continued to position themselves for market opening this week, with Northumbrian Water announc- ing a rebrand of its business retail arm, while Anglian Water and at least one other Wasc are set to follow suit, Utility Week understands. Northumbrian Water said it would rebrand its non- household retail business as Wave, which it hopes to establish as a "major player in the market". The new brand will be led by Lucy Darch, managing director of business retail. Anglian Water Business has confirmed it is also likely to rebrand, given its existing prominence in the Scottish business retail market. From 1 April 2017, all non-household customers in England will be able to choose their water and sewerage retailer. In January this year, Portsmouth Water became the first water company to reveal it would exit the business retail market, handing the baton to Scottish supplier Castle Water. Earlier this month, Severn Trent Water and United Utilities stated their intention to team up and create a new, separate, and yet-to-be-named retail business. Five of the water-only companies (Wocs) and eight of the nine Wascs have told Utility Week they plan to remain in the market, with South East Water and Cam- bridge Water/South Staffordshire refusing to comment, and Southern Water saying it is "undecided". LV ENERGY ECCC calls for Eco extension to 2018 The Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC) has called for an extension of the Energy Com- pany Obligation (Eco) to March 2018 to avoid "making the same mistakes" as previous schemes. Eco, a government scheme to obligate large suppliers to deliver energy efficiency meas- ures to households, is due to end in March 2017 before a new obligation is expected in 2018. In a report, the ECCC recom- mended that the Department of Energy and Climate Change reconsider its decision to use a supplier obligation to tackle fuel poverty and extend Eco until March 2018, to provide stability for the supply chain while a new supplier obligation is developed. The report added, "it must not repeat the mistakes of the badly handled transition from the previous schemes to Eco", which had "unintended con- sequences for industry and the supply chain". GAS Sell or lease meter assets, says Ofgem Regulator Ofgem has called on meter providers to sell or lease meter assets to incoming provid- ers to improve competition in the non-domestic gas market. Ofgem has made the call as part of a set of steps designed to address concerns about the health of competition in the sector following a review of gas metering products and services, which started in February 2015. It wants to minimise unnec- essary replacements of meters when changing meter providers, which it says accounts for 2 per cent of the average consumer gas bill. The regulator will chair a meeting of market participants "at which we expect companies to come up with proposals to make this market work better", it said. ENERGY Smart meter rollout deadline not realistic The energy industry needs a credible timetable for the smart meter rollout, because "no-one believes it will be completed by 2020", Utilita managing director William Bullen has said. At an Energy and Climate Change Committee hearing, suppliers expressed concern at a proposed measure to extend the energy secretary's power to intervene in the rollout from 2018 to 2023 to ensure timely delivery of the programme. Delays to the programme have pushed back completion of the rollout to 2020. However, Bullen said he did not see the necessary pick-up in the rate of smart meter installation to achieve the 2020 deadline. The non-household market opens in April 2017 I am the customer Jeremy Nicholson "Dispatchable power may be inadequate to meet demand" With coal-fired power stations closing and new gas-fired power stations yet to materialise, Brit- ain's energy users are concerned to know whether supplies will be adequate to meet demand. Electricity demand has in fact been falling due to energy effi- ciency improvements, industrial closures and consumers cutting consumption ažer years of price rises. There has also been unprecedented investment in renewables, raising total generat- ing capacity to a historic high. a substitute for new power stations, but it helps to reduce National Grid's reliance on back- up generation to balance the system. It provides a commercial opportunity for companies to capitalise on flexibility in their electricity demand, keeping bills down and ensuring security of supply. It can also be deployed quickly – and with supply margins tightening rapidly, that could make all the difference. Jeremy Nicholson, director, Energy Intensive Users Group But there remains a risk that dispatchable power will be inad- equate to meet demand when wind and solar output is low. There is no single solution – we need new gas power stations and greater access to imported power, and in the long term, new nuclear, to provide flex- ibility and maintain baseload. But demand response matters too, which is why the Energy Intensive Users Group is sup- porting the Major Energy Users' Council's spring roadshow events this month in Manchester and London, bringing industrial and commercial users together to explore what can be done. Demand response is not 24 | 18TH - 24TH MARCH 2016 | UTILITY WEEK

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