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UTILITY WEEK | 10TH - 16TH JUNE 2016 | 3 Leader Jane Gray This week 4 | Seven days 6 | People & Opinion 9 Policy & Regulation 9 | News Removal of benefits could mean blackouts 10 | Analysis Water 2020: Fostering a culture of change 12 | Market view Yorkshire planning go-ahead is a fillip for fracking 13 | Market view Hydro power is the big hitter when it comes to renewables 14 | Market view Offshore wind and the Northern Powerhouse 15 Finance & Investment 15 | News Prices hasten change of focus for Centrica 17 | Analysis A good year for National Grid 18 Operations & Assets 18 | High viz Severn Trent Water 19 | Pipe up Aidan Brooks, Energy & Utility Skills Group 20 | Event Utilities and cloud computing 23 | Personal view Malvin Kamara, Vallum Associates 24 | Market view Meeting the totex challenge 25 Customers 25 | News Call to government over Eco replacement 27 | Market view DIY generation 28 | Market view The more reviews the better 30 Community 31 | Disconnector The CMA could yet pack a punch B efore the month is out, we will know the Competition and Markets Authority's final determinations on the remedies it wants to impose on energy market malfunctions. We will also know – at almost precisely the same juncture – the result of the UK referendum on EU membership, and it will be inter- esting to see how the shadow of that defining moment for the nation impacts coverage of the CMA. Some would say it is just one of many factors that will lead to the fruit of almost two years' labour on the part of the CMA being a "damp squib". Sceptical commentators on the CMA's progress have voiced a wide and sometimes contradictory range of reasons why this might be. Some argue that market players have moved faster to change the failings identified in their operations and their modes of customer engagement than the CMA has moved to produce remedies. They say, therefore, that these remedies are rendered irrelevant. Others would pour scorn on that, but say that the CMA has tied itself in knots trying to address engagement and has failed to come up with any kind of long-term or effective fix – the short-term introduction of price regulation and proposals to mandate sharing of customer data are seen as especially likely to produce their own "unintended consequences" for the customer experience. But it is these controversial elements of the CMA's proposals that could yet make the release of its findings a pivotal moment for the sector. In the pages of Utility Week this week, GB Energy Supply's chief executive expresses his belief that the big six suppliers will "push back" on data sharing, and there have been rumours of legal challenges being prepared in anticipation of the CMA's broader conclusions. In the light of Ofgem chief executive Dermot Nolan's recent com- ments that resistance to the CMA's findings could force the regulator away from its preferred path favouring principles-based regulation and down a route of increased interventionism and price setting, these murmurings of discontent could see the CMA's outcomes reassume their transformative potential – in a way the sector neither desires nor would have anticipated at the investigation's outset. * Join us on 5 July at the Utility Week Energy Summit in London to discuss the outcomes of the CMA investigation, the referendum and more. Jane Gray, Acting Editor janegray@fav-house.com GAS 9 | News Scottish parliament votes in favour of fracking ban 12 | Market view Yorkshire planning go-ahead is a fillip for fracking 15 | News Prices hasten change of focus for Centrica WATER 10 | Analysis Water 2020: Fostering a culture of change 18 | High viz Severn Trent Water 24 | Market view Meeting the totex challenge ELECTRICITY 9 | News Removal of benefits could mean blackouts 13 | Market view Hydro power is the big hitter when it comes to renewables 14 | Market view Offshore wind and the Northern Powerhouse 27 | Market view DIY generation ENERGY 17 | Analysis A good year for National Grid 20 | Event Utilities and cloud computing 23 | Personal view Malvin Kamara, Vallum Associates 25 | News Call to government over Eco replacement 28 | Market view The more reviews the better Visit the Downloads section of the website Citrix: How utilities can improve both customer service and operational efficiency http://bit.ly/1UiHmMr Kirona: Seven Deadly Sins Managing Field Based Workers 2016 http://bit.ly/1U737yM Aeris: Utilities and entrepreneurialism next. http://bit.ly/1TQ1YSf