Utility Week

UtilityWeek 10th November 2017

Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government

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UTILITY WEEK | 10TH - 16TH NOVEMBER 2017 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 7 Policy & Regulation 7 | News Ofgem mulls reform of network access 8 | CEO view Johanna Dow, chief executive, Business Stream 9| Analysis How Dieter Helm's default tariff might work in practice 10 | Market view How will interconnectors be built and funded post-Brexit? 11 | Analysis The chancellor has some tricky decisions to make in the Budget 12 | Market view Get ready for the General Data Protection Regulation 13 Finance & Investment 13 | News Engie divests last big UK fossil fuel plant 16 Operations & Assets 16 | High viz Drax's biomass plants in Louisiana and Mississippi 18 | Analysis Lessons from United Utilities' 2015 cryptosporidium outbreak 20 | Market view Blockchain and utilities 25 Customers 25 | News Housing plans trigger water efficiency probe 27 | Market view How to get more data for customers from smart meters 28 | Market view A customer who communicates digitally is a happy customer 30 Community 31 | Disconnector GAS 12 | Market view New data protection rules are coming 16 | High viz Drax's biomass plants in the US WATER 8 | CEO view Johanna Dow, Business Stream 18 | Analysis Lessons from UU's 2015 crypto outbreak 25 | News £30m scheme aims to boost efficiency ELECTRICITY 7 | News National Grid culls balancing services 13 | News Greencoat buys majority stake in five onshore windfarms 13 | News 'Let onshore wind compete for subsidy' ENERGY 7 | News UK emission curbs 'will match EU ETS' 10 | Market view Interconnectors in a post-Brexit world 25 | News 'Let consumers lead the energy market' 25 | News Smart meters 'have a lasting impact' 27 | Market view More detailed data for customers from smart meters Pitney Bowes: Make self service smarter and more engaging http://bit.ly/2nAa2rC CGI: Demand side flexibility in UK utilities http://bit.ly/2hrMapA Knowledge worth Keeping Visit the DownloaDs section of Utility week's website http://www.utilityweek.co.uk/ downloads Leader Ellen Bennett Flexible networks are already a reality If there were any doubt that the transition to a smart, flexible energy network was well under way, it was dispelled this week with the publication of Ofgem's latest thinking on how users should be charged for the past, present and future costs of network infrastruc- ture. In an update to its targeted charging review, the energy regula- tor set out a range of potential reforms that would see a dynamic charging system in which network users could choose to pay more or less to be connected to the grid depending on the time, quality and geographic range of their connection. That's radical stuff – but not as radical as a separate but linked set of reforms proposed by the regulator under which network users could be charged for the historic cost of the infrastructure, even where they are using on-site generation rather than power from the grid. The mechanisms by which this would happen are complex but the message is simple: everyone must pay. The howls of protest this has provoked among business users and other stakeholders were predicted by Ofgem chief executive Dermot Nolan as long ago as this summer, when he told Utility Week that the outcomes of the targeted charging review were likely to be contentious – but that Ofgem would not shy away from a fight, or even a legal wrangle, if it felt it was acting in the interests of fairness. Two other developments this week are telling. First, Centrica paid £62 million for Europe's largest demand-side aggregator, a clear indicator of the company's confidence that flexibility can and will deliver value. Second, SSE and Npower owner Innogy are consider- ing combining their retail businesses – a clear indicator that compa- nies are being driven to desperate measures as they seek to realise value from the beleaguered sector. Energy flexibility was on the horizon for a long time – but, like the falling cost of offshore wind – it has become reality far quicker than anyone could have predicted. The architect of Electricity Market Reform himself, Jonathan Brearley, said as much at last week's Flexible Networks conference (p22), and Aurora Energy predicts this week that flexible capacity will top 25GW by 2030. So as the industry's leading companies follow the first-movers into the emerg- ing markets, the regulator is right to ensure they're fit for purpose, however painful that might be. Ellen Bennett, Editor, ellenbennett@fav-house.com

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