Utility Week

UtilityWeek 5th August 2016

Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government

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UTILITY WEEK | 5Th - 11Th AUgUsT 2016 | 25 Customers Research from Eon has revealed that tempers in the workplace can fray when temperatures soar. 1 in 5 resort to dressing "inappropriately" in an attempt to stay cool . 39% say its unfair women have more flexibility over what to wear in warm temperatures. 70% say they are unhappy with the temperature of their workplace. 37% argue with colleagues at least once a month because of the temperature. 24% sneakily close windows behind colleagues' backs because they disagree over whether it's too hot. 25% admit to ramping up the air conditioning. 3% befriend the caretaker to keep the office at their preferred temperature. Eon's findings suggest office temperatures fall short of employees' expectations, leaving them in a battle to stay comfortable and potentially piling on the power demand. Game theory iFEST is a game that has been funded and created equally by all four GDN owners with the ENA's support. Players have their attention drawn to the dangers of cooking on barbecues within tents and the possible effects of CO poisoning to look out for, in the context of a festival. The game evolved from a previ- ous app and allows GDNs to see how many people have played it, for how long, and whether they share it with friends on social media. It was promoted to revellers at Glastonbury, Leeds and T in the Park festivals with a big social media push using the hashtag #TunesNotFumes. National Grid says: 'Take it with you' National Grid's "Take it with you" campaign urges holidaymakers to ensure their summer holidays do not end in tragedy, by taking a carbon monoxide (CO) alarm with them when they go away. The company has undertaken research to find out how alert holidaymakers are to the risk of CO poisoning at privately rented holiday accom- modation. • 50percentofthosesurveyedsaidthey weren't worried by the issue; • 47percentdidn'tcheckwhethertherewas a CO alarm in the property they stayed at on their last holiday; • 84percentdidn'thaveaportableCOdetec- tor. Other statistics reveal that many people don't recognise the main indicators of a potentially faulty gas appliance such as: • excessivecondensation(79percentuna- ware); • yellowororangeflame(77percentunaware); • pilotlightthatblowsouteasily(69percent unaware); • blackorbrownishmarksandyellowstains around the gas appliance (69 per cent una- ware); • 19percentdidn'tknowanyoftheindicators; • 17percentthoughttherewerenoindicators. Phil Clarke, head of gas operations at National Grid's London Network, says: "With holidaymakers increasingly shunning hotels and resorts in favour of homes from private rental websites it's important that we remind them to check that the gas appliances are safe. "Most people are not gas safety experts so the best advice is to take a CO alarm with you." Known as the "silent killer", carbon monoxide poisoning kills more than 50 people a year in the UK, and 4,000 attend hospital with carbon monoxide symptoms. Bristol Water serves up The Water Bar Last year, the newly recruited communications team at Bristol Water started thinking of new ways to connect with customers at summer events and festivals. Being at these events is a great way to connect with people, but the summer is about having fun, we don't want to bore people just handing out water efficiency packs and talking about issues. We wanted to do things differently and create a good feeling around the Bristol Water brand. Aer many elaborate plans we asked ourselves, what do our customers want or expect from us? Simple: water. Good value water. Why should it be any different at a festival? So Bristol Water created a pop-up water bar to take to events across the supply area. Complete with beer pumps, adjusted to pump water only of course, and artwork from local artists Loch Ness giving the whole thing a very "Bristol" vibe. Its first outing was on 9 July at Bristol Pride and it went down brilliantly. Customers loved it. Just what they wanted when they wanted it. It's not very oen you get groups of students chanting "We love Bristol Water" but at Pride they did. "Pride was a great event, we connected with a diverse range of our customers. Men, women, old, young, people dressed in rubber, all sorts. We got to talk to people about all sorts of things, including the value of water compared to bottled water. "For a lot of customers this was the first time they had really thought about Bristol Water and so it was great that this was a positive first contact," says Alison Jennings, communications manager at Bristol Water. The Bar has a few more appearances this summer including Bristol's International Balloon Fiesta in August. Rob Ellis, press and public relations officer, Bristol Water hOT uNDer The cOll ar

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