Utility Week

4 | 12TH - 18TH JANUARY 2018 | UTILITY WEEK STORY BY NUMBERS Seven days... National media Energy agency rejects Trump plan for coal and nuclear subsidy The Republican-controlled Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has unexpectedly rejected a Trump administration plan to bolster coal- fired and nuclear power plants with subsidies, dealing a blow to the president's high-profile mission to revive the struggling coal industry. The coal industry has been besieged by multiple bankruptcies and a steady loss of market share as natural gas and renewable energy have flourished. The Guardian, 9 January Kuwait Energy eyes London listing with Soco merger talks Kuwait Energy may be on the brink of reviving its bid to list on the London Stock Exchange by merging with UK-based oil company Soco International. Soco confirmed it is in talks to merge with Kuwait Energy in a deal that would finally give the Middle Eastern group a foothold in the UK market aer repeatedly failing to take the company public. Soco said the pair are in preliminary talks over a "merger of equals", but cautioned that there can be no certainty that an agree- ment will be reached. Shares in the £400 million company rose over 10 per cent as the merger talks with the Kuwaiti business were revealed. The Telegraph, 8 January 5p tax on plastic bottles mooted Shoppers could be forced to pay a 5p tax on single use plastic bottles to help clean up the environment, Theresa May has said. The prime minister said she was considering a levy on plastic bot- tles such as water and so drinks bottles in a bid to change behaviour among consumers. The Telegraph, 7 January Southern seeks drought permit to refill reservoir S outhern Water has applied to the Environment Agency for a "precautionary" drought permit to pump water into the Bewl Water reservoir – the largest stretch of open water in the southeast of England. The company said there had been "exceptionally low rainfall" during the winter of 2016/17 and during October and November 2017. It said Bewl now holds less than 43 per cent of its maximum 31,000 million litres. Figures on 28 December showed Bewl's level at 38 per cent. The reservoir in Lamber- hurst, near Tunbridge Wells, provides water to hundreds of thousands of people in Kent and East Sussex. Southern Water said it needed to act to "safeguard sup- plies" for customers and reduce the risk of needing to introduce "temporary restrictions" on peo- ple's water use over the coming summer, such as prohibiting the use of hose pipes. The company said the permit would allow it to refill the reservoir in the weeks up to 1 April 2018. If approved, the drought per- mit for Bewl will give Southern Water "greater flexibility" to take water from the River Medway and River Teise and pump it into the reservoir. Southern said abstracting more water from the rivers would be a short-term measure to secure water supplies and the permit would be valid only until the end of March. "We are applying for the permit now because taking water in winter is less likely to have any environmental impact, compared to the summer," said a spokesman. "It will aid us in getting the water to healthy levels of around 70 per cent full by the end of March along with winter rain." Southern Water last applied to the Environment Agency for a drought permit in 2012. KP 'Rip-off' energy tariffs going unnoticed A poll commis- sioned by Bulb revealed that more than a quarter of UK households are unaware if they are on "rip-off" energy tariffs. 28% of UK households are unaware if they are on "rip-off" energy tariffs. £7.3bn Amount the big six raked in over five years because people didn't switch. 55% claimed to have switched in the past two years. 22% of the UK's 27.1 million households switched in 2017, according to official statistics. 50% of customers aged over 50 are on a standard variable tariff. £120,000 Amount Beronhill in Wolverhampton was fined for the illegal discharge of chemicals into Severn Trent's sewers. The company was also ordered to pay £60,000 in costs.

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