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4 | 21ST - 27TH JULY 2017 | UTILITY WEEK Consumers plan to activate GDPR rights With the change to data protection laws coming into force in May 2018, energy consumers are already plan- ning to restrict the amount of infor- mation they share with suppliers. 33% of consumers will exercise the right to have their data removed from energy companies. 27% will access their personal data from energy suppliers. 29% will ask energy companies to stop using their data for marketing. 19% would share life- style interest and hobbies in return for a preferential service or dis- counts * The survey of 2,000 UK consumers was conducted by OnePoll, between 24 and 26 May 2017. STORY BY NUMBERS Seven days... National media Grid boss got £497k relocation allowance National Grid has handed its new boss a £497,000 relocation allow- ance – to work in London rather than Warwick. John Pettigrew pocketed the cash aer taking over as chief executive of the power transmission network in April last year. The 48-year-old previously ran its British division and was based at its headquarters in Warwick. As head of the FTSE 100 giant, Pettigrew now works from its office on Trafalgar Square. The Times, 16 July France needs nuclear 'roadmap' for cuts France should define a clear roadmap to fulfil its pledge to cut the share of nuclear power in its electricity generation to 50 per cent by 2025, French ecology minister said in an interview in the Sunday edition of regional daily Ouest- France. A 2015 law requires France to reduce in eight years the share of atomic power generation to 50 per- cent from over 75 per cent currently, and include more renewable wind and solar generation. Reuters, 15 July Russian hackers target UK energy grids Hackers backed by the Russian government have attacked energy networks in parts of the UK. The hackers, who targeted the Republic of Ireland's energy sector, intended to infiltrate control systems, security analysts believe. This would also have given them the power to knock out parts of the grid in Northern Ireland. The Times, 15 July Network underspends may be a sign of RIIO success T he widespread outper- formance of networks against their spending allowances under RIIO may be "evidence of the success, not the failure" of the RIIO price control framework. Mike Huggins, director of Frontier Economics, told Utility Week that Ofgem appears to have taken a "mostly negative" view of the underspends that networks are forecast to achieve in the current price control. However, he reasoned: "Ofgem has put in place strong incentives to encourage cost out per formance, so perhaps shouldn't be surprised when such out performance subse- quently appears." Huggins' comments come aer Ofgem published an open letter last week seeking views on how the RIIO framework should be adapted for the second set of price controls, beginning in 2023 for electricity distribution and in 2021 for gas distribution and transmission and electricity transmission. Ofgem senior partner for net- works Jonathan Brearley warned the networks to "prepare for tougher price controls", adding there is "strong evidence" that their investors are willing to accept lower returns in future than they have recently enjoyed. He said the regulator could improve the way in which it evaluates networks' business plans during the settlement pro- cess and will examine whether the information quality incen- tive and fast-tracking procedure has been effective in encourag- ing networks to submit accurate cost forecasts. Ofgem's dra outline for RIIO2 was published on the same day Citizens Advice released a report that said energy networks are projected to receive £7.5 billion in "unjusti- fied profits"over the current eight-year price control period. Responding to the contro- versy, Huggins said: "Ofgem seems to place a mostly negative interpretation on cost outper- formance, with a presumption that it signals that allowances are too high." He suggested, however, that Ofgem might consider an alternative explanation for outperformance, which is the "success, not the failure, of its high-powered incentive arrange- ments". TG Analysis, p18 "The government needs to resist giving Swansea Bay a 'sweetheart deal', which is hideously expensive" Dale Vince, chief executive, Ecotricity