Utility Week

UTILITY Week 9th September 2016

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UTILITY WEEK | 9TH - 16TH SEPTEMBER 2016 | 3 Leader Jane Gray This week 4 | Seven days 6 | People & Opinion 9 Policy & Regulation 9 | News Crypto probe could delay market opening 10 | Lobby Leadership contest is a defining moment for Labour 12 | Market view The government dithers over energy policy again, this time on Hinkley Point C 13 | Event The UK is happy to remain part of the EU energy market 14 Finance & Investment 14 | News Government behind curve on renewables 15 | Market view Working capital for water retailers in the new market 18 Operations & Assets 18 | High viz Archimedes screw powers Yorkshire housing development 20 | Analysis Is there a role in the UK for small nuclear reactors? 22 | Market view Mobile enterprise technology improves efficiency, productivity and customer relationships 23 Customers 23 | News Extra Energy bottom of complaints table 25 | Market view Get to know your customers better 26 | Market view What water can learn from energy competition 28 | Market view Anaerobic digestion in the community Community 31 | Disconnector '105' is a good call by the DNOs In the winter of 2013/14 thousands of homes and businesses were le without power when storms hit the UK. Chaos ensued – and not just because of the relentlessly hostile weather conditions. Custom- ers, it became very clear, did not know who to call to initiate power restoration. The furore in the national media about this confusion and the difficult, sometimes dangerous, situation in which it le many customers, was a PR disaster for the power networks. All the more so because it did not even solve the public awareness problem around who should be contacted in the event of a power cut. Research conducted by the Energy Networks Association shows that only 27 per cent of people know they should call their DNO when the lights go out and even fewer can correctly name the network that covers their region. Looking to resolve this situation and consign the pandemonium of 2013/14 to the history books, the ENA has spent the past two years fast-tracking the creation of a national three-digit emergency num- ber – 105 – which will simplify the process of getting in touch with DNOs when a power cut or outage occurs. Customers won't have to know which licence area they sit in, they'll just need to know the three-digit code. The official launch of 105 on 6 September was hailed as an indus- try success story. It's been done in record time – other industries have generally taken around five years to launch similar numbers – and second, because it should raise the profile of networks with customers at a time when Ofgem is placing increasing importance on their relationships with end users. Not all agree. Some consumer groups have grumbled that the launch of a three-digit number is an expensive exercise that will become redundant when smart meter data can deliver "last breath" and "first gasp" alerts for every home and business in a fraction of the time that it takes for someone to pick up a phone. However, such alerts are still suffering teething problems and the ability of suppliers to stick with the timeline for national deploy- ment of smart meters is distinctly questionable. Given this, and with extreme weather conditions hitting more frequently, the 105 launch should be a comfort to networks and customers alike as we head into winter. We look forward to seeing more of the public awareness campaign. Jane Gray, Acting Editor janegray@fav-house.com GAS 25 | Market view Get to know your customers 28 | Market view How to get an anaerobic digestion project off the ground WATER 14 | News Water UK welcomes microbead ban plan 14 | News Anglian sets up £100m IT alliance 14 | News NAO to probe sewer assurance provision 15 | Market view Working capital for water retailers 23 | News 'WOCs and WASCs cannot be compared' 26 | Market view Market lessons for water from energy ELECTRICITY 12 | Market view Investors left high and dry by Government's Hinkley dithering 18 | High viz Archimedes screw powers housing development 20 | Analysis Is there a role for small nuclear reactors in the UK? ENERGY 9 | News Hinkley 'not solution to carbon emissions' 13 | Market view How Brexit may yet hit UK energy policy Visit the Downloads section of the website Schneider Electric: Discover Premset, the new generation of MV switchgear http://bit.ly/2be7CIS Citrix: Transforming utilities through connectivity http://bit.ly/29yGg1l CGI: Energy Flexibility Transforming The Power System By 2030 http://bit.ly/2bR3zXB

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