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4 | 24TH FEBRUARY - 2ND MARCH 2017 | UTILITY WEEK Sector expects to be hacked Email and data security specialist Mimecast has released its annual email security risk assessment. 72% of utilities companies believe their business will be hit by cybercrime in 2017. 63% of energy companies believe the most likely way they'll be infected by ransomware is through a malicious email attachment. 51% believe visiting a site with malicious content will be the source of a security breach. 46% believe they will be attacked via email with a malicious URL. 26 million emails were inspected for the Mimecast research. STORY BY NUMBERS Yorkshire Water pulls spin-out transfer amid sell-off rumours Seven days... Y orkshire Water has abandoned plans to transfer existing non- domestic customers to its retail spin-out amid rumours that it may sell off its business book. In a statement, the company confirmed it will not push ahead with a plan to exit the market by transferring business customers to Three Sixty, the retail brand it launched in September 2016. Existing customers will continue to be served by Yorkshire Water Business Services. However, rumours are building that Yorkshire may be planning to go a step further and sell off its business customer base, exiting the competitive retail market altogether. Northumbrian Water is tipped as a possible buyer. Yorkshire and Northumbrian declined to comment on the possibility that they were poised to strike a deal. However, a range of industry sources, including leaders at other incumbent water companies, told Utility Week they would "not be surprised" if the rumours were true. Many also thought it likely other large water companies will exit the market, even aer it opens fully to competition in April. Shareholder appetite for a low margin and potentially volatile market is said to be low. The news follows the surprise resignation of former Three Sixty managing director Robert Marrill in January, just four months aer the business launched. LV "I am not at all concerned that Ofgem would not have the ability or courage or energy to go against the panel." Mike Toms, chair of the Connection and Use of System Code Panel, defends its impartiality. See cover story p12. National media EDF feels the burn of Flamanville fire The prolonged closure of a major French atomic reactor aer an explosion this month is probably costing EDF at least £1m a day, according to experts. The operator, which will spend £18 billion building the UK's first new nuclear power station in a generation, shut unit 1 at its Flamanville plant aer a fire broke out in the turbine hall. The company initially estimated it would switch the reactor back on within a week, but later pushed the restart out to the end of March. The Guardian, 21 February Interserve incinerator exit costs soar A botched move into building energy-from-waste incinerators has more than doubled costs at Interserve, triggering a sharp rise in the company's debt. The construction to office cleaning group said the hit from getting out of the troubled business had jumped from £70 million to £160 million. City analysts also warned that costs could continue to spiral as a result of a legal dispute over a big contract in Glasgow. The Times, 21 February Energy customers in fixed-price cold turkey Thousands of UK households are facing gas and electricity bill rises of up to 28% as fixed price contracts signed before recent energy price increases come to an end. So far this winter, EDF, Npower and Scottish Power have all announced hikes. Moneysupermarket has said that 77 fixed energy deals will expire before the end of April, leaving average households typically facing a £200 a year increase to around £1,100 a year for gas and electricity. The Guardian, 15 February