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UTILITY WEEK | 8TH - 14TH SEPTEMBER 2017 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Interview Beatrice Bigois, managing director – customers, EDF Energy 9 Policy & Regulation 9 | News Councils to charge by hour for streetworks 10 | Analysis Ofwat hopes that D-Mex will improve water connections 13 | Analysis What will blockchain mean for the energy sector? 15 | Q&A Alex Plant, regulation director, Anglian Water 16 | Analysis Five things we learnt about EVs over the summer 18 | Analysis 'Resilience in the round' 19 Finance & Investment 19 | News Centrica margin high as Npower languishes 21 | Analysis The curse of the profit warning 22 Operations & Assets 22 | High viz Severn Trent's Newark works 24 | Market view Your liability for long hours 25 Customers 25 | News PR19 proposals 'may drive up water bills' 27 | Market view Smart meters and community benefits 28 | Market view The full multi-utility offer 30 Community 31 | Disconnector GAS 21 | Analysis The curse of the profit warning WATER 10 | Analysis Ofwat hopes that D-Mex will improve water connections 15 | Q&A Alex Plant, regulation director, Anglian Water 18 | Analysis 'Resilience in the round' 19 | News Listed firms set to outperform in PR19 25 | News PR19 proposals 'may drive up water bills' 28 | Market view The full multi- utility offer ELECTRICITY 9 | News Hinkley connection costs disputed 16 | Analysis Five things we learnt about EVs over the summer ENERGY 6 | Interview Beatrice Bigois, managing director – customers, EDF Energy 9 | News Councils to charge by hour for streetworks 13 | Analysis What will blockchain mean for the energy sector? 19 | News Centrica margin high as Npower languishes 27 | Market view Smart meters and community benefits 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 The battle for PR19 is hotting up "That's brave, minister." Sir Humphrey's immortal words of warning to Jim Hacker could have been uttered to any of the chief executives who commissioned KPMG to write a report attacking the financial assumptions that underlie Ofwat's framework for the next price review. In the polite, conservative world of UK water, that's a fairly big step. This tells us that the water companies – and their investors – are getting antsy. And small wonder: Ofwat has made little secret of its plans for PR19. The regulator is convinced that the "lower for longer" interest rate environment will continue, with the cost of both debt and equity at historic lows, and is determined that customers, rather than investors, should benefit this time round. It argues that, in this unique macro-economic environment, basing estimates around the cost of finance on historical data is mislead- ing, to the detriment of customers. Companies beg to differ, asking, reasonably enough, if you can't base your assumptions on what's happened in the past, what can you base them on? Not PwC's num- bers, according to a rival report produced for Affinity, Anglian and Northumbrian Water, which talks sniffily of the "shortcomings" of the original analysis. The fightback has begun. With the odd outlier, the companies have co-existed peacefully with their regulator since the Section 13 debacle and the conclusion of PR14. Customers were happy, in the main; investors were happy, in the main; and all the political and media scrutiny was focused on energy. Not any more. Ofwat is deter- mined that this price review will crack the problem of monopoly companies benefitting from historically cheap finance, while the companies fear falling returns will send their investors running for the hills. Ultimately, Ofwat has the final say – but the KPMG report, and other consultation responses including CC Water's – will make uncomfortable reading in Bloomsbury Street. • We're pleased to announce that, in response to popular demand, the deadline for the Utility Week Awards 2017 has been extended by two weeks, to Friday 22 September. The awards really are the gold standard of achievement for utilities – and the presentation dinner, at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane on 11 December, is the best Christmas party of the year. We've been working hard to over- haul the judging process and have introduced new feedback reports for every shortlisted entrant. See p4, visit: utilityweekawards.co.uk Ellen Bennett, Editor, ellenbennett@fav-house.com