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4 | 16TH - 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 | UTILITY WEEK Energy switching soars Energy customer switches have increased dramatically in the first half of 2016, according to new figures from Ofgem. 30% Amount by which switching rose between January and June. 3.8m Number of people who have changed energy supplier. 2.2m Number of electricity sw itches. 1.6m Number of gas switches. 66% Customers still on standard variable tariffs, which cost an average of £1,066 a year. STORY BY NUMBERS Kelda launches retail business 'Three Sixty' Seven days... Y orkshire Water's parent company, Kelda Group, has launched a new non- household retail business called Three Sixty, which it hopes will "refresh the water market". Three Sixty incorporates Kelda's Scottish business retail arm Kelda Water Services Retail, and the company said it hoped it would "meet the specific needs of business customers nationwide" and would take a "distinctive approach" to the market. Robert Marrill, formerly a director at Kelda Group's non- regulated business Kelda Water Services, has been appointed managing director of Three Sixty. He said the company was "centred around adding value and helping businesses make water work for them, as seam- lessly and cost effectively as possible". "In launching this new company, we know that what matters most to our customers is the uninterrupted, day-to-day running of their own businesses and we are passionate about helping them achieve this," he said. "In developing Three Sixty, we have learnt from all the attributes that made our sister company, Yorkshire Water, and our national water retail company, Kelda Water Services Retail, so successful and have applied them to this new com- pany, putting customer service at the heart of everything we do. "Three Sixty will be easy and straightforward to work with. We will provide real value for our business customers and build on the key strengths, expertise and decades of experience we have in the Three Sixty team." LV "It is, above all, undemocratic" Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to create more than 200 local energy companies. He condemned the current energy market for being "undemocratic". National media AIB to install solar farm at Dublin HQ AIB is planning to transform the roof space of its Dublin headquar- ters into one of the largest solar- energy installations in the state. The bank has teamed up with energy firm Power Capital to retrofit its Bankcentre campus in Ballsbridge with solar cells. The system, which includes a solar car port, will occupy more than 2,700m 2 of roof area and generate enough energy to power 40 houses or, in AIB's case, 1,410 computers. The Irish Times, 12 September India takes US green energy dispute to WTO India has complained to the World Trade Organization about support given to the renewable energy industry in eight US states, the WTO has said. The complaint alleges the states of Washington, California, Montana, Massachusetts, Con- necticut, Michigan, Delaware and Minnesota prop up their renewa- bles sector with illegal subsidies and domestic content require- ments – an obligation to buy local goods rather than imports. Reuters, 12 September Violence in Bangalore over Cauvery river Protesters in the southern Indian city of Bangalore in have attacked shops and set fire to vehicles in a long-running dispute over water. They were angry at a Supreme Court ruling ordering Karnataka to share more water with neighbour- ing Tamil Nadu. Karnataka must release 12,000 cubic feet of water per second from the Cauvery river until 20 September. Both states say they urgently need the water for irrigation and a battle about access to it has raged for decades. BBC News, 12 September £7bn Research from Energy Helpline suggests that SMEs that did not switch energy supplier could have overpaid £7 billion in the past year.