Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 23RD - 29TH SEPTEMBER 2016 | 3 Leader Jane Gray This week 4 | Seven days 6 | People & Opinion 9 Policy & Regulation 9 | News Competition could save households £3bn 10 | Lobby A look ahead to the party conferences of the main political parties 14 | Analysis Capacity auctions deliver the wrong generation in the wrong place 17 Finance & Investment 17 | News EFR contracts 'may not be profi table' 18 | Analysis The government fi nally gives Hinkley the go-ahead 20 Operations & Assets 20 | High viz APX launches TIGRs 21 | Pipe up Jacob Tompkins 22 | Event Review of the Utility Week HR Forum conference 24 | Market view Utilities need their own dedicated data networks 25 | Market view The seven pillars of cyber defence 27 Customers 27 | News New supplier to enter English water market 28 | Market view Using the right data sets to improve collections 30 Community 31 | Disconnector BEIS has quickly got down to business BEIS is getting busy – and its energy remit has been front and centre of its biggest moves so far, for better or worse. Firstly, delaying and, nally, approving the controversial Hinkley Point C project turned heads and put the department in the national spotlight. Though ostensibly driven by Theresa May's own security concerns, the decision gives us an early indication of what the department's take on industrial strategy is going to look like with regards to critical infrastructure investments. It's a much more circumspect approach than the previous administration supported (see Hinkley analysis, p18). While Hinkley grabbed the headlines, BEIS got on with the pro- cess of merging its two former departments, a task that has brought about the demise of the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC). This move was to be expected – it is normal for depart- ments, even those with a broad remit, to support just one select committee, and BEIS will adopt that of the former BIS. Nevertheless, some ECCC enthusiasts had hoped the group would survive in some form. No such luck. As of 17 October, the ECCC will be no more. Any work it was undertaking – including two investigations into the impacts of Brexit on energy policy and climate change policy – will be wrapped up early and the committee will publish a summary report to express its views on the key issues, as it sees them, which continue to merit scrutiny. Iain Wright, the Labour MP for Hartlepool and chairman of the existing BIS select committee, will take command of the new BEIS group and has vowed that "energy and climate change will be front and centre of committee work". This will be welcome news to those who feared the creation of BEIS would inevitably sideline climate change concerns or cause them to play second ddle to business interests. How Wright, who is also a former shadow business minis- ter, will balance the emphasis of the BEIS committee's work remains to be seen, however. Other recent action from BEIS has seen it express concerns regarding the pro tability of National Grid's new contracts for energy storage providers and tweak the terms of CfDs. Next up, we can expect a response to the rst report of the Fuel Poverty Commit- tee and the publication of its call for evidence on smart systems. Jane Gray, Acting Editor janegray@fav-house.com GAS 17 | News Chinese mull bid for Grid's networks 22 | Event Review of the Utility Week HR Forum conference 25 | Market view The seven pillars of cyber defence WATER 9 | News Competition could save households £3bn 17 | News Drought could cost economy £1.3bn/ day 21 | Pipe up Jacob Tompkins 27 | News New supplier to enter English water market ELECTRICITY 14 | Analysis Capacity auctions deliver the wrong generation in the wrong place 17 | News EFR contracts 'may not be profi table' 18 | Analysis Government fi nally gives Hinkley the go-ahead 20 | High viz APX launches TIGRs ENERGY 10 | Lobby A look ahead to the party conferences of the main parties 24 | Market view Utilities need their own dedicated data networks 28 | Market view Using the right data sets to improve collections Visit the Downloads section of the website Cisco Intel: Get connected, stay secure http://bit.ly/29qWpZB Citrix: Transforming utilities through connectivity http://bit.ly/29yGg1l Assa Abloy: Solving the key security challenges of critical infrastructure http://bit.ly/29IZ0fp

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