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UTILITY WEEK | 28TH APRIL - 4TH MAY 2017 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Interview Iain Wright MP, chair, BEIS committee 9 Policy & Regulation 9 | News Conservatives could end green consensus 10 | Lobby What does the general election mean for utilities? 13 | Analysis Brexit and the European Integrated Energy Market 14 | Opinion Ofgem misses an opportunity 15 | Market view Renewables to lose priority dispatch advantage 16 Finance & Investment 16 | News 'Embedded benefits are saving money' 17 | Analysis Iberdrola is a stand out success among European energy firms 18 Operations & Assets 18 | High viz Barn Energy's Kirkthorpe plant 20 | Market view Utilities must do more to encourage young recruits 21 | Market view How solar providers can exploit the Internet of Things 23 | Market view 'Re-purposing' people assets 24 | Market view Streamlining data processes 27 Customers 27 | News Code change prompts surge in switching 28 | Market view Personalised communications 30 Community 31 | Disconnector GAS 6 | Interview Iain Wright MP, chair, BEIS committee 10 | Lobby What does the general election mean for utilities? WATER 18 | High viz Barn Energy's Kirkthorpe plant ELECTRICITY 15 | Market view Renewables to lose priority dispatch advantage 16 | News 'Embedded benefits are saving money' 21 | Market view How solar providers can exploit the IoT 23 | Market view 'Re-purposing' people assets ENERGY 9 | News Conservatives could end green consensus 13 | Analysis Brexit and the European Integrated Energy Market 14 | Opinion Ofgem misses an opportunity 17 | Analysis Iberdrola is a stand out success among European energy firms 20 | Market view Utilities must do more to encourage young recruits 28 | Market view Personalised communications Pitney Bowes: Make self service smarter and more engaging http://bit.ly/2nAa2rC Fighting the price cap is a lost cause The inevitable has come to pass. A Conservative manifesto commit- ment to cap energy prices was a long time coming – as outgoing BEIS committee chair Iain Wright complains to Utility Week in this week's interview (p6). Its confirmation was received badly by most large suppliers and their shareholders as share prices plummeted. Frustration and anger within the energy industry is understand- able. But there is now little to be gained by suppliers maintaining staunch opposition to the move. Big six leaders such as EDF's Vincent de Rivaz and Centrica's Iain Conn have, both publicly and no doubt privately, made their concerns about the impact that a cap will have on competition, prof- itability, and consumer experience abundantly plain. But they have failed to alter the course of the government's populist agenda. MPs of all stripes are convinced that energy retail is dysfunctional and that the vast majority of suppliers are failing on cost transparency. While the election campaigning plays out, utilities should recalibrate their PR, policy and strategy teams to try to achieve damage limitation. There is little detail yet as to what the proposed Conservative price cap will look like. Odds are on for a straightforward maximum SVT charge, adjusted on a six-monthly basis, in the same way as the current prepayment meter price cap works. But there are voices advocating the alternative of a cap on the differential between most and least expensive tariffs. Quite apart from the cap structure, it is unclear what duration the Conservatives envisage for their intervention. A blunt, permanent cap on prices would be a worst-case scenario. It would be received as a death knell on competition by many suppliers, who point out that their slim-to-zero profit margins will be undercut by the saving of £100 per customer that the Conservatives have seemingly plucked from the air. There is also little visibility regarding what action may accom- pany a price cap to address market issues. The Tories have yet to set out this stall, instead content to undermine the efficacy of the CMA's recommendations. But a strategy of some kind must be forthcoming. Without it, a temporary cap would be pointless. The opportunity to work closely with policymakers over the coming weeks and months to influence the shape of an unpopular intervention is now all that is le to suppliers hoping to make the best of a bad situation. Jane Gray, Deputy Editor, janegray@fav-house.com Leader Jane Gray GORE: New Arc Rated Foul Weather Protection http://bit.ly/2ot3xrO Knowledge worth Keeping Visit the DownloaDs section of Utility week's website http://www.utilityweek.co.uk/ downloads