Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 26TH JANUARY - 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 Policy & Regulation 6 | News £100m proxy savings on Hinkley hook-up 7 | Chief executive's view Jenny Pyper, Utility Regulator 8 | Analysis The impact of Carillion's collapse 9 Finance & Investment 9 | News EDF looks to pension funds for Sizewell 10 Utility Week Live 10 | Event How to thrive on Disruption 18 Operations & Assets 18 | Analysis The ENA's Open Networks project and system flexibility 19 | Expert view Ben Nduva, Ordnance Survey 20 | Analysis Low reservoir levels raise prospect of summer drought 22 Customers 22 | News SMETS1 installation cut-off postponed 23 | Analysis The latest additions to the energy retail market 24 | Analysis The hottest new entrants to the water retail market 26 | Event An Energy Systems Catapult roundtable on decarbonising heat 28 | Market view Consumer engagement and smart grid transformation 30 Community 31 | Disconnector GAS 8 | Analysis The impact of Carillion's collapse WATER 6 | News Ofwat to pilot C-MeX and D-MeX this year 20 | Analysis Low reservoir levels raise prospect of summer drought 22 | News Business retail transition approved ELECTRICITY 6 | News £100m proxy savings on Hinkley hook-up 9 | News EDF looks to pension funds for Sizewell 28 | Market view Consumer engagement and smart grid transformation ENERGY 7 | Chief executive's view Jenny Pyper, Utility Regulator 18 | Analysis The ENA's Open Networks project and system flexibility 19 | Expert view Ben Nduva, Ordnance Survey 22 | News SMETS1 installation cut- off postponed 23 | Analysis The latest additions to the energy retail market 26 | Event An Energy Systems Catapult roundtable on decarbonising heat 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 Ofgem's opportunity for a reshuffle It's all change at Ofgem. The announcement that two senior staffers are following Rachel Fletcher out the door, prompting a reorganisa- tion at the highest level of the regulator, comes just weeks aer the news that chairman David Gray will be standing down at the end of his term in September. The latest departures, E-serve managing director Chris Poulton, and senior partner and one-time interim chief executive Andrew Wright, see the organisation streamlined into three departments – broadly speaking, retail, system operation and networks, and corporate services. While the headlines of the restructure were set out in a brief press release last week, the details have yet to come, with some fairly major questions – such as the future place of Martin Crouch's Improving Regulation department – yet to be answered. The jungle drums suggest the departures have been amicable, rather than a sign of deeper troubles. Nevertheless, they leave chief executive Dermot Nolan facing the latest in a long line of challenges. On the one hand, he will finally be in a position to build his own top team, bringing more of his own people to follow former policymaker Jonathan Brearley, his surprise appointment top job for networks in 2016. On the other hand, he will be all too aware of the risk of losing corporate memory and expertise following such a flurry of senior departures, and at such a critical moment in the energy transition. Nolan will also be aware, as ever, of ministers looking over his shoulder. In her first public appearance as energy secretary last week, Claire Perry rather ominously suggested that Ofgem "needs to change", promising to "hold them to some very explicit require- ments". Her comments relate to the ongoing argy-bargy over the price cap, a long-standing bone of contention between the regu- lator and government. For ministers, Gray's departure from the chair offers an opportunity to change the direction of the regulator without any need for more overt intervention. Gray, while widely respected, is also strongly associated with a pro-competition stance – something that may have proved inconvenient to government these last few months. Will Nolan stay in post as all around him changes? Probably, is the consensus. While few would envy him the role, most market observers agree the job won't be done until the targeted charg- ing review, RIIO2, and of course the price cap are all in place. And that's just the day job. Nolan also has potentially game-changing long-term thinking to do, about the DSO model, for example. Watch closely: it's set to be an interesting year. Ellen Bennett, Editor, ellenbennett@fav-house.com

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