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Community Role reversal The topsy-turvy world shows no signs of righting itself just yet. Last week we saw the Labour conference assume all the trappings of a carnival as the party congratulated itself on its victory at the last general election, despite falling short of a majority by 60 seats. While this week the Con- servative party was on the brink of civil war at its confer- ence even though it did win the last election, once more being lacerated by Brexiteers whose anger has not been assuaged by winning the argument. The Tories act to all intents and purposes as though they are the party of opposition, even though they are the ones in government. How Theresa May's boast of being the only leader capable of delivering strong and stable government must be coming back to haunt her as Jeremy Corbyn is hailed as a messiah by his party while Theresa May is treated like an Aunt Sally by hers. On the other side of the Pond, president Donald Trump has meanwhile managed to maintain a presidential demeanour in the face of 50-plus people being gunned down in Las Vegas. At time of going to press he hadn't labelled any of the victims "losers" for getting themselves shot, or framed the whole trag- edy solely in terms of whether it might be good or bad for his personal ratings. Could we be seeing a two- term Trump emerging? You read it here first, folks. Something you can rely on In times like these it's nice to have something traditional to cling on to. Its comforting. Unfortunately for those who work for energy companies, one of those traditions is to stick it to energy companies. The press has been slow to get to work on smart meters, but last week the Daily Mail sought to make up for lost time. It attacked energy suppli- ers for "tricking and bullying customers" into getting smart meters by making appoint- ments for an engineer to call even though "no such appoint- ment" had been arranged, and for using high-pressure tactics to foist smart meters on hap- less customers by leading them to believe they are compulsory. The website did concede that smart meters will do away with estimated bills and help consumers control their energy costs, but its chief concern was campaigning on behalf of those consumers who didn't want a smart meter, on the grounds of concerns about how their personal data would be used or because they "didn't want the hassle of waiting for an engineer to call". Normal service has been resumed. Data mining A lot more 21st century than smart meters are crypto cur- rencies and the danger they pose to people's electricity bills. Crypto what, you say? Let Disconnector explain. Crypto currencies – most famously Bitcoin – exist only on computers rather than being controlled by any nation state. They are "mined" using special algorithms, but that takes a lot of computing power – and a lot of electricity. Some websites have cot- toned on to a wheeze whereby they download a piece of code on to your computer to get it to mine crypto currency for them. Two US websites, Pirate Bay and Showtime, were revealed by specialist IT press to be doing just that. The former brushed it off as "just a test", which had now concluded, while ShowTime abruptly stopped the practice without offering any further explanation. As Facebook and Google hoover up the last remaining dregs of advertising revenue on the internet, Disconnector predicts that you'll be hearing more of this particular wheeze. Disconnector Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: janegray@ fav-house.com; Features editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; Deputy news editor: Katey Pigden, t: 01342 332082, e: kateypigden@fav-house.com; Senior reporter: Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tomgrimwood@fav-house.com; Policy correspondent: David Blackman, e: davidblackman@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, t: 01342 332085, e: paulnewton@fav-house.com; Sales executive: Sidney Houliston, e: sidneyhouliston@fav-house.com. t: 01342 332009; Conference sponsorship manager: Sophie Abbott, t: 01342 332062, e; sophieabbott@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amandabarnes@ fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership enquiries: Peter Bissell, t: 01342 332057, e: peterbissell@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: Buxton Press, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. Published by: Faversham House Ltd, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 1UZ, 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2015 Membership subscriptions: UK £669 per year. Overseas £781 per year. Contact Peter Bissell on: 01342 332057 Utility Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact the editor, Ellen Bennett, at ellenbennett@fav-house.com. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk Tim Rotheray @trotheray .@JSHeappey completely right saying consumer engagement in electricity will happen with EVs. Nothing else will do it #CPC17 Policy Exchange @Policy_Exchange "I will be saying something about CCS - but I'm afraid you'll have to be patient and wait a little longer" says Claire Perry #CPC17 Sam Hall @samuelhall0 New @WeAreBrightBlue polling finds that climate change is 2nd issue under 40s wanted politicians to discuss more & 1st for 18-24 year olds Laura Sandys Verified account @ Laura_Sandys Was grt to be with @NinaSkorupska making the case that decarb is inevitable and v desirable #rea @WeAreBrightBlue NG Control RoomVerified account @ NGControlRoom Carbon Intensity dropped to an all time record low of 73 gCO₂/kWh overnight http:// carbonintensity.org.uk/ Richard Howard @UKenergywonk Interesting biz model from @OVOEnergy. Vehicle to Grid at peak times pays for recharging later. But what about impact on EV battery life? Dustin Benton @dustin_benton If you do it right, Vehicle to Grid increases battery life by 10%: https://www2.warwick. ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/ clean_energy_stored/ … (basically it's battery conditioning) Tom Steward @Steward_T Continued talk of need for system inertia is concerning - not a tech neutral product. #powerresponsive Ben Aylott @beaylott Excellent new tool from @nationalgriduk providing 2 day grid carbon intensity forecasts through a simple open API. Top Tweets UTILITY WEEK | 6TH - 12TH OCTOBER 2017 | 31