WET News

O fwat's outgoing chief executive Cathryn Ross believes the water sector and other utilities are 'ripe for a revolution' as she predicts a 'radical shake-up' in how customers will buy utilities and home services Speaking at a conference last month, Ross suggested that in the coming years customers would no longer have multiple providers for services such as water, electricity and telecoms. Instead she said they would work with a single company which would take care of all the administration and much of the decision making when it comes to their bills and contracts for water, energy, broadband, home insurance and home emergency cover. Ross predicted the change will be shaped by specialist companies emerging and using leading edge data analysis to better understand customers' needs and priorities and • nd the best combination of services at the right price. She said: "Imagine a world in Utilities 'ripe for a revolution', O at's Ross suggests which you don't even know who your supplier of water and wastewater services is, or who supplies your energy, or broadband, 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. You may well have given them the ability to turn some bits of your home infrastructure on and o€ to manage demand and reduce costs, because this will enable you to get a better deal. To my mind this means the water sector, indeed all utilities, are ripe for a revolution." Ross warned if these "radical changes" emerge, then regu- lators will need to "radically" change as well. She challenged regulators to: "stop thinking in [their] silos about water bill payers, energy bill payers, telecoms bill payers, insurance customers and start thinking about 'home services' cus- tomers. Or better still human beings, with busy lives and competing demands on their money and time." Ross said Ofwat has had a "lot of support" for the four themes set out for PR19 – great customer service, long-term resilience, a€ ordability for all Š Regulator predicts change will be shaped by a single company. Carillion has been hitting the headlines over the news it will not meet • nancial covenants this month. A s part of a total renovation of Keadby Pumping Station, ECS Engineering Services has replaced and uprated a large span automatic weed screen cleaner at the site to increase ' ood resilience for the EA. ECS installed a Landustrie system which was designed as a bespoke solution for the site. Furthermore, additional safety features have been added to the installation by ECS, improving the working conditions for site operators. Weed screens serve to remove the build-up of debris collected from water ' ow by grates, which prevent large ' oating objects entering potentially sensitive areas or damaging pumping equipment. However, as the build-up increases, it is imperative to have a reliable cleaning system to remove debris and ensure smooth water ' ow. Operators at Keadby had been encountering control issues with the existing system, HS2 builder Carillion's nances go from bad to worse – but it's too big to fail @Independent Weird flash crash in Carillion shares… @emmahaslett Carillion faces survival battle after debt shock @julianbell WET News is registered at Stationers' Hall. Origination by Faversham House and TR Clash Ltd. Printed by Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE. Copyright 2017. Faversham House. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publishers. Every e' ort is made to ensure the accuracy of material published in WET News. 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Editor Maureen Gaines: maureengaines@fav-house.com Ad sales Simon Apps: simonapps@fav-house.com Classifi ed sales Mark Scott: markscott@fav-house.com Production controller Sharon Miller: sharonmiller@fav-house.com Publisher Angela Himus: angelahimus@fav-house.com Published by Faversham House Ltd, Faversham House, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 1UZ Call: 01342 332000 1yr: UK £115 Overseas (airmail) £129/$181 2yr: UK £203 Overseas (airmail) £231/$324 Tel: 01342 332 2031 Email: subscriptions@fav-house.com Search WET News' archives for more jobs, news, features, products and services, events and training courses. wwtonline.co.uk WET News 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. 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 Average circulation Jan-Dec 2016: 6,110 When pumping station equipment gets older the risk of breakdowns and disruptions increases, switching out your old pumps to the submersible sewage pump type ABS XFP is easy with the Sulzer adapter bracket which fits to the existing guiderail. Choosing the XFP also means lower energy consumption with the Premium Efficiency IE3 motor that comes as standard, and reduced maintenance costs and blockages delivered with the versatile range of Contrablock Plus impellers. For more information, www.sulzer.com/timeforchange Time for Change Carillion, one of the construction rms work on #HS2, is a "horror show" in the words of analysts @RichardWellings Troubled construction group Carillion has endured a fresh shares collapse @skynews "...trying to predict the next ve years simply by looking backwards is likely to result in getting it wrong" Cathryn Ross, Ofwat and innovation – but she admitted she "wasn't impressed" by some responses from companies about Ofwat's approach to determine the weighted average cost of capital. She said: "I think it is fair to say that some companies aren't fans of our proposed approach. We received a number of DECEMBER 2017 WET NEWS 3 ECS upgrades screen cleaner And it's gone: Carillion's 11% share jump evaporates @Financial Times responses along the lines that 'we couldn't possibly move away from an approach to the cost of capital heavily based on history and regulatory precedent because… well … that would be … unprece-dented.' I don't think I'm giving much away if I say that we weren't very impressed with those arguments." She added: "The fact of the matter is that if we have learned one thing from the last 20 years it is that the in the world of • nancing costs, trying to predict the next • ve years simply by looking backwards is likely to result in getting it wrong. And over the past 20 years, the direction of error has been consistently in favour of companies rather than customers."

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