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UTILITY WEEK | 25TH NOVEMBER - 1ST DECEMBER 2016 | 3 Leader Jane Gray This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Interview Sue Amies-King, chief executive, Water Plus 11 Policy & Regulation 11 | News Politicians 'must cede CfD auctions control' 12 | Analysis The capacity market 15 Finance & Investment 15 | News Water acquisitions set to continue after Dee Valley deal 16 | Analysis Severn Trent Water's takeover of Dee Valley Water 17 | Analysis The UK-Norway interconnector 18 Operations & Assets 18 | High Viz Thames Water's Beckton works 20 | Event Utility Industry Skills and Talent Challenges roundtable 22 | Market view The cost-benefit analysis of smart meters should be updated 23 | Market view The relationship between water retailers and wholesalers is key 24 | Market view Establishing common standards for cybersecurity 25 Customers 25 | News SSE price freeze until at least April 27 | Market view Is switching too stressful? 28 Markets & Trading 28 | Market view Capacity market notices 30 Community 31 | Disconnector Winter weather puts utilities to the test The first trials of winter are upon us. As temperatures have dropped and wind speeds and rainfall increased, the preparations utilities have made for harsh weather in recent months are being tested. At National Grid, the cooler weather and darkening days trig- gered the inaugural publication of its new capacity market notice on 31 October – swily followed by a second demonstration of the automated service for capacity market participants on 7 November. So far, so good, though the triggering of the notices proves nothing in itself about the readiness of participants to respond to instruc- tions from the system operator – both operating margin alerts to date have been cancelled when the supply threshold returned to acceptable levels. More recently, Storm Angus has brought gale force winds and flooding to many areas of the UK prompting almost 8,500 calls to the recently launched 105 emergency number for power cuts on Sunday 20 November and Monday 21 November. The 105 system accounted for about a quarter of calls made by customers to the worst affected distribution network operators (DNOs) – UKPN, SSE and WPD – with the rest funnelling into longer- standing individual DNO customer support centres. In response to Met Office weather warnings, many DNOs had laid on extra call centre staff and overall their response to the challenges of Storm Angus was fairly slick. In Electricity North West's licence area where over 16,000 properties lost power when the storm hit, most were reconnected "within a few hours", according to the DNO. By the standards of the biggest storms of recent years, Storm Angus was a relatively mild affair, but nonetheless for customers in remote and flood-prone areas who had to wait longer for utility ser- vices to be restored, it was a source of difficulty and misery. Flooding in particular caused chaos in Bristol and other areas of the South and sparked angry criticism of government from environmental group Friends of the Earth. It said the discomfort and damage could have been mitigated if government had delivered the investment promised in recent years in natural flood defences across the UK. As winter goes on, this shortfall in investment is likely to get more airtime and, by association, old questions about the role of utilities in delivering flood resilience may come under fresh scrutiny. Jane Gray, Acting Editor janegray@fav-house.com GAS 20 | Event Utility Industry Skills and Talent Challenges roundtable 24 | Market view Establishing common standards for cybersecurity WATER 6 | Interview Sue Amies-King, chief executive, Water Plus 15 | News Water acquisitions set to continue after Dee Valley deal 16 | Analysis Severn Trent Water's takeover of Dee Valley Water 18 | High viz Thames Water's Beckton works 23 | Market view The relationship between water retailers and wholesalers is key ELECTRICITY 11 | News Politicians 'must cede CfD auctions control' 12 | Analysis The capacity market 17 | Analysis The UK-Norway interconnector 28 | Market view Capacity market notices ENERGY 22 | Market view The cost-benefit analysis of smart meters 25 | News SSE price freeze until at least April 27 | Market view Is switching too stressful? Visit the Downloads section of the website WNS: The UK Smart Meter Rollout http://bit.ly/2espIJ3 Webfleet: How SGN is set to save £1M with Webfleet http://bit.ly/2eh3HAL Certas: Balancing capacity market concerns : setting the record straight on fuel http://bit.ly/2essYnG