Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 24TH - 30TH NOVEMBER 2017 | 5 "I am certain we can do the necessary recruitment and make the necessary agreements… within the time required" Richard Harrington, energy minister, reassures the House in a debate in which the government defeated a Labour amendment calling for a Euratom transition period.  A rare "giant" honeycomb beehive is creating a buzz among experts after taking up residence at a windfarm in Avonmouth, Bristol. The site is based on an old water treatment works owned by Wessex Water. The colony has been rescued in time for winter with the help of a local natural beekeeping society. 170bn The number of litres of water Ofwat has challenged water companies to save each year by addressing leaks. 98.3% Of bathing waters in England met at least the minimum standard of the Bathing Water Directive in 2017. WATER Ross: water firms could be a thing of the past by 2025 Ofwat's outgoing chief executive, Cathryn Ross, said she believed the water sector and other utilities were "ripe for a revolution" as she predicted a "radical shake-up" in how customers will buy utilities and home services. Speaking at a conference on 21 November, Ross suggested that in coming years customers would no longer have multiple providers for services such as water, elec- tricity and telecoms. Instead, she said, they would work with "just one" company for services such as water, energy, broadband, home insurance and home emergency cover. In a speech looking ahead to the next price review period (2020-25), Ross predicted that the change would be shaped by spe- cialist companies emerging and using "leading edge" data analysis to better understand customers' needs and priorities and find the best combination of services at the right price. She said: "Imagine a world in which you don't even know who your supplier of water and wastewater services is, or who supplies your energy, or broad- band, or maybe even your home insurance and emergency cover, because you have a contract with an intermediary who takes care of all that for you." HOW LONG DOES YOUR ENERGY COMPANY KEEP YOU ON HOLD? Bulb M&S Ebico Green Star Energy Co-operative Energy Octopus Energy Flow Energy Utilita Scottish Power iSupply Energy Economy Energy Extra Energy EDF Energy Good Energy Utility Warehouse Ecotricity Spark Energy PFP Energy Sainsbury's Energy First Utility Iresa Ovo Energy Npower SSE British Gas Eon Consumer organisation Which? made a series of calls to energy companies' customer services and sales teams at set times of the day over two months, and timed how long it took to get through to a human. The big six didn't fare well in the investigation, with Eon coming out slowest on average. 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 Time in seconds

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