Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 23RD FEBRUARY - 1ST MARCH 2018 | 9 Policy & Regulation This week GMB warns Corbyn against hitting gas Big Labour-backing union says gas must be part of the UK's wider low-carbon transformation Labour's second-biggest union backer has warned Jeremy Corbyn against shutting down the gas industry as part of a push to decarbonise the energy system. Last weekend, the Labour leader insisted that tackling climate change required radical action. And Corbyn said that once it had been brought back into public ownership by Labour, the energy system would be charged with a mission to curb greenhouse gases. Justin Bowden, national secretary for energy at the GMB union, welcomed the opposition's commitment to invest in renewables but said: "Labour must give very careful consideration to ensuring that unintended consequences of those plans do not result in a shutdown of the gas industry or a halt to new nuclear, which are both essential in a balanced energy mix. Bowden warned Labour about the ramifications of a mass switchover from gas to electricity in the heating network. He said: "Gas is several times cheaper than electricity – over 80 per cent of UK homes use gas for heating. Access to gas is a key part of every fuel poverty strategy. "Quadrupling the size of the electricity infrastructure and asking everyone with a gas boiler to rip it out and replace it with an electric one is a non-starter that hard- pressed voters will not tolerate. Nor should we have to depend on Russia, Qatar or Kuwait to supply us with gas to heat our homes and supply industry." DB ENERGY Industry anger at price cap appeal ban The government has set a "dangerous precedent" by banning suppliers from being able to appeal to the competition authority against Ofgem's rulings on price cap levels, Energy UK has warned. The BEIS select committee report, published this week, backs the government's decision in the dra price cap bill not to allow energy companies to appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) against the regulator's price controls decisions. Under the legislation, the only appeal mechamism open to suppliers is judicial review. Lawrence Slade, chief executive of Energy UK, told Utility Week he was "disappointed" at the stance, which was out of line with the CMA's powers governing other utility price control decisions. See anlaysis, p11. ENERGY EU and UK 'must collaborate' post- Brexit, says SSE chief SSE chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies has urged the UK and EU to continue to collaborate on energy projects post-Brexit in order to deliver a North Sea low carbon grid. In a statement posted on the company's website, he wrote: "The UK and EU should continue to collaborate on delivering large, ambitious energy projects for mutual benefit." As an example, Phillips- Davies cited the "unfulfilled renewable energy potential waiting to be harnessed" in the North Sea where SSE is seeking to develop 4GW of offshore wind in the Dogger Bank area. ELECTRICITY National Grid consults on SO plans National Grid has launched a consultation on its plans for the electricity system operator in 2018/19 as it undergoes legal separation from the rest of the group at the behest of Ofgem. The firm has outlined the long list of actions it will take over the year to increase competition, aid co-ordination across transmission and distribution networks and improve customer service. To reduce balancing costs, the system operator will increase the competitive provision of services by reducing barriers to entry and maximising the ability of all potential providers to compete. This will include delivering new dispatch capabilities to enable the participation of smaller distributed energy resources. Bowden: people won't throw away gas boilers Political Agenda David Blackman "Safe rather than sorry looks like an attractive option" When Gavin Williamson raised concerns recently about Russian cyberattacks on the UK's energy infrastructure, there were suspi- cions that the defence secretary was seeking to divert attention from reports about an extra- marital office fling. Williamson's timing may have looked suspect but his con- cern looks a bit more credible aer Russia was found respon- sible for the NotPetya virus that crippled much of Ukraine's power network last year. personal information of house- holds and businesses from fall- ing into the hands of foreign companies. Judging by its response to Whitehead's intervention, the government is keen to avoid potential restrictions on the DCC's ownership. However, when even the out- come of a US election appears to have been influenced by Russian interference, safe rather than sorry looks like an increasingly attractive option. All of the English-speaking states that participate in the Five Eyes military intelligence sharing network have lined up to blame Russia for the attack. Concerns about security have spread to the smart meter programme, which Smart Energy GB has been quick to rubbish. However this unease is spreading across the House of Commons. Labour recently made an attempt to prevent the Data Communication Company, which will run the smart meter system, from falling into non- UK ownership. Labour's energy spokesman Alan Whitehead argued that it would be prudent to stop the

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