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4 | 17TH - 23RD JUNE 2016 | UTILITY WEEK Energy use and the gender divide Research from price comparison engine BillHub suggests that men and women have very different hab- its when it comes to energy use and paying the bills. Women use far more energy than men, while men are far more likely to be late in paying their bills. 24% of men forgot to pay energy bills more than five times in 12 months. 12% of women made five late payments in 12 months. 200% women use twice the amount of energy as men. £1,400 average annual spend per property on energy bills in the UK. STORY BY NUMBERS Luis Garcia to step down as Bristol Water chief Seven days... B ristol Water has announced that its chief executive, Luis Garcia, will step down aer seven years at the helm of the company. He will leave the company to rejoin Suez in a senior role, once a new chief executive has been appointed. Bristol Water chairman Keith Ludeman said: "We are grateful for all that Luis has achieved for Bristol Water, its custom- ers, staff and all its stakehold- ers in his tenure and we wish him every success as he moves back to a senior role within the Suez Group. "Luis has led the Bristol Water team as it consistently became one of the top-per- forming water companies for customer service. "We will now find the right person to succeed him, build on his legacy and lead the business through the opportunities and challenges that the water indus- try faces over the years ahead." Garcia said: "I am coming close to the end of my time run- ning Bristol Water. It has been an amazing seven years and I am proud to have been part of what we have achieved. "What has impressed me most in my time here is the amazing passion the team has for Bristol Water and delivering for its customers. This is the key to the company's continued success." Bristol Water will now begin the recruitment process for a new chief executive. In the meantime, Garcia will continue in his role. LV Analysis, p20 7.6% Ovo Energy is raising the price of its monthly fixed tariff, as a result of increasing gas and electricity wholesale costs. "Customers deserve better" Independent supplier Green Energy says proposals by Ofgem to protect customers' credit if their supplier goes bust highlight a "real risk" in the retail energy market (news, p17) French interconnector A 2GW interconnector is to be built between the UK and France by developer Aquind at a cost £1.1 billion. It is expected to come online in 2021. The project is privately funded and is expected to create up to 500 jobs across the supply chain during the construction phase. Lord Callanan, non-executive director of Aquind, said: "The in- terconnector will significantly ease the pressure on the UK grid and reduce the risk of blackouts." ELECTRICITY DSR is not just for crises A negative public narrative that links demand-side response (DSR) to energy crisis situations must change to achieve flexibility and decarbonisation in the power system, according to Cordi O'Hara, director of system operation at National Grid. O'Hara told Utility Week that changing this narrative was an "absolute focus" for National Grid's Power Responsive campaign in its second year. "It's really important that we talk about the opportunity and the cost efficiency of working with demand-side participants." Local grids need EV safeguards Legislation should be introduced to ensure electric vehicles (EVs) automatically charge at times of low energy demand to protect local grids, Good Energy chief executive Juliet Davenport has insisted. Speaking to the Energy and Climate Change Committee, Davenport said it was her personal view that every single electric ve- hicle produced in the UK should automatically wait until a period of low energy demand to start charg- ing unless a customer actively overrides it. ELECTRICITY ELECTRICITY