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UTILITY WEEK | 3RD - 9TH JUNE 2016 | 3 Leader Jane Gray This week 4 | Seven days 6 | People & Opinion 8 | Insight report Getting connected and leveraging the Internet of Things 12 | Topic Security and national infrastructure – keeping essential services safe and sound 19 Policy & Regulation 19 | News 'Staying in EU will save energy £12bn' 19 | Political Agenda With Mathew Beech 21 Finance & Investment 21 | News UU profits fall £60m as price controls bite 21 | Stock watch BP and Shell 22 Operations & Assets 22 | High viz Scottish Water's Springburn works 22 | Pipe up Jason Sharpe, Vallum 25 | Analysis The end of an era at Thames Water with the departure of Martin Baggs 26 Customers 26 | News Energy suppliers seek to offer EV tariff 28 | Market view Customer engagement is essential for the energy sector, so firms should experiment to see what works 30 Community 31 | Disconnector Water 2020 has not laid CPI concerns to rest Water's "fundamentally pro-market" regulator has unveiled its Water 2020 decision document, setting out its vision for the develop- ment of the sector and, importantly, the principles on which it will base the 2019 price review – a full methodology for which will be published next year. Ofwat enthusiastically described the document as a "milestone" and responses from the market show that water companies largely agree, welcoming more news on the shape of generally popular market solutions to challenges such as affordability, population growth, climate change and water scarcity. Intentions to respond to these macro-problems with new bioresources services and "direct customer procurement" have sparked interest and nods of measured approval. On one particular element of Water 2020, however, companies are noticeably less positive. The shi from using the retail price index to using the consumer price index (news, p4) as a methodol- ogy for indexation of consumer bills is causing some concern among executives keen to preserve investor confidence and keep down their cost of borrowing. Ofwat is clear about its rationale for this move. It says it plays a central role in its mission to improve consumer trust in the water sector and will provide a more "credible and legitimate" approach to the indexation of bills now that RPI has fallen out of favour with statisticians and economists. But some water company leaders are unconvinced, especially in relation to the impact an indexation shi will have on regulatory capital value. There's a feeling that it will constrain asset base infla- tion, cause gearing to tighten and result in little discernible benefit to customers. Why do it at a time when the industry is in the process of dealing with other big changes – such as market opening and the rest of the Water 2020 package – they ask? Ofwat has acknowledged these concerns but is confident that its proposed mechanisms for making the RPI-CPI shi will mitigate any adverse effects. Those working for water companies counter that the regulator may have over-estimated investors' willingness to be reassured. They say the best way to keep customers' bills low is to maintain firms' ability to borrow money at the lowest possible rate. Anything that disrupts this ability is unhelpful. Jane Gray, Acting Editor janegray@fav-house.com GAS 19 | News Shale must 'prove itself' in Yorkshire 19 | Political Agenda With Mathew Beech 21 | Stock watch BP and Shell WATER 12 | Topic Security and national infrastructure – keeping essential services safe and sound 21 | News UU profits fall £60m as price controls bite 22 | High viz Scottish Water's Springburn works 25 | Analysis The end of an era at Thames Water with the departure of Martin Baggs ELECTRICITY 19 | News Large- scale anaerobic digestion FIT could be scrapped 21 | News French state may help fund Hinkley ENERGY 8 | Insight report Getting connected and leveraging the Internet of Things 19 | News 'Staying in EU will save energy £12bn' 26 | News Energy suppliers seek to offer EV tariff 28 | Market view Why customer engagement is essential Visit the Downloads section of the website Citrix: How utilities can improve both customer service and operational efficiency http://bit.ly/1s4EAnI Kirona: Seven Deadly Sins Managing Field Based Workers 2016 http://bit.ly/1U737yM Aeris: Water Meters and the Internet of Things. http://bit.ly/1rEqcT0