Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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UTILITY WEEK | 4TH - 10TH AUGUST 2017 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Interview Chris Train, chief executive, Cadent 9 | Topic Workforce planning: how utilities should go about recruiting and retaining the people they need 15 Policy & Regulation 15 | News 'Race' is on for cyber security standards 15 | Political Agenda David Blackman 16 | Analysis Ofwat will lose a transformative leader when Cathryn Ross steps down 19 Finance & Investment 19 | News Centrica first half profits fall 4 per cent 20 Operations & Assets 20 | High viz Scottish Water's Lochaline treatment works 21 | Expert view Haven Power talks sustainability partnerships 24 | Analysis Northumbrian Water's innovation festival 26 | Analysis DNOs fight back against prohibition on owning storage 28 Customers 28 | News 'Whopping' price hike from British Gas 30 Community 31 | Disconnector GAS 6 | Interview Chris Train, chief executive, Cadent WATER 16 | Analysis Ofwat will lose a transformative leader when Cathryn Ross steps down 20 | High viz Scottish Water's Lochaline treatment works 24 | Analysis Northumbrian Water's innovation festival ELECTRICITY 21 | Expert view Haven Power talks sustainability partnerships 26 | Analysis DNOs fight back against prohibition on owning storage 28 | News 'Whopping' price hike from British Gas ENERGY 9 | Topic Workforce planning: how utilities should go about recruiting and retaining the people they need 15 | News 'Race' is on for cyber security standards 19 | News 'Centrica first half profits fall 4 per cent 28 | News Khan 'has cold feet' over energy firm plan CGI: Demand side flexibility in UK utilities http://bit.ly/2qOgC0R 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 Leader Ellen Bennett Departure of Ross is the end of an era And so farewell to Cathryn Ross, whose time at the helm of Ofwat has been markedly more successful than that of her predecessor, Regina Finn. Although Ross has only been in the role for four years, her departure feels like the end of an era. It's an era that has been marked by co-operation, as both regulator and companies, bruised from the section 13 stand-off, worked to achieve change together, embracing Ross's "trust and confidence" agenda. Ross is known for being approachable and willing to listen, and while she's far from a pushover, her consultative style has achieved far more than her predecessor's combative approach. She has also formed an extremely effective double act with Ofwat's chairman, Jonson Cox, who appointed her in 2013 following Finn's departure. There aren't many executives who could work alongside Cox in the chairman's seat without being eclipsed by him, but Ross has achieved it. There are many other achievements to her name – the implementation of PR14 and the opening of the non-domestic water market prominent among them – but her number one win has got to be the turnaround in Ofwat's relationships. She has taken it from a beleaguered regulator at loggerheads with the industry to a stable, respected body that is able to effect change and implement its vision for the sector. No doubt these diplomatic skills will serve Ross well in her new role at BT. Her legacy will go beyond this. With the broad framework for PR19 already set, Ross's thinking will influence the water sector until at least 2025. She was a champion of markets, and this will be felt in the next price control, as competitive forces enter parts of the wholesale value chain. Her successor will need to negotiate the complex politi- cal landscape that sees the push for ever greater competition on the one hand conflict with Labour's stated policy of renationalisation on the other. It's no small task – and Ross will be a hard act to follow. • Kudos to ENA for its refusal to take the government's veto on network-owned storage at face value, but its response seems inspired more by optimism than experience. The government has been clear in its smart systems and flexibility plan that it wants to create a pure market for storage services. Not only could this impede the development of storage if market forces don't bring it forward at pace, it also hamstrings networks as they attempt to carve out a new role for themselves in the changing power system. Expanding their activities outside the regulated business may, for now, be the best option le open to them. Ellen Bennett, Editor, ellenbennett@fav-house.com