Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 16TH - 22ND MARCH 2018 | 5 WATER United Utilities faces strike threat United Utilities said it planned to keep its service "running as normal" despite a third of its employees planning to go on strike for two days later this month. Hundreds of workers are due to take strike action for the first time since 1992, according to Unison North West, over proposed cuts to their pension scheme. Strike action is planned for Friday 16 March and Monday 19 March, which Unison said would "impact the whole of the North West region". The union said strike action had been called due to a United Utilities plan to impose changes to a staff pension scheme from 1 April. It claimed the changes would reduce scheme members' pensions "significantly", with younger mem- bers of staff "losing as much as £10,000 a year of their guaranteed income in retirement". A spokesman for United Utilities told Utility Week the company was "disappointed". He said that like other companies, it had found the company final salary scheme unsustainable in its current form. The solution on offer was an alternative to scrapping the final salary scheme altogether and was a concession that would cost "considerably more". "The green loophole would allow unscrupulous energy companies to game the system and continue to overcharge families who deserve better" Hayden Wood, co-founder of Bulb, writes to MPs urging them to amend the energy price cap bill. Energy provider Eon has released a film entitled The Big Dip, which "re-imagines" city streets with sustainably heated swimming pools. The company said the film illustrates the potential of innovative energy solutions such as air source heat pumps, smart homes or solar and battery storage – at a community level or city-wide scale – all powered by sustainable sources. £15m SP Energy Networks has launched a £15 million green economy fund to support initia- tives focused on decarbonising Scotland's heating and transport. Market Operator Services Limited's (MOSL) latest data published on 9 March shows that by the end of February more than 112,000 SPID (supply point) switches had taken place in the non-domestic water retail market. This represents a switching rate of 4.2 per cent, or 9.9 per cent in volumetric terms. Water market switching hits 112k by 1 March 4th Coca-Cola European Partners has become the fourth company in England to be granted a self-supply water licence by Ofwat. It follows brewer Greene King, hospitality firm Whitbread and brewery and pub retailer Marston's. 1 April 17 1 May 17 1 Jun 17 1 Jul 17 1 Aug 17 1 Sep 17 1 Oct 17 1 Nov 17 1 Dec 17 1 Jan 18 1 Feb 18 Cumulative switching rate Number of supply points 125k 100k 75k 50k 25k 0 6,303 8,851 15,300 18,828 23,816 34,271 26,993 39,401 31,584 47,593 51,269 56,427 60,829 103,563 112,155 93,322 86,165 70,985 61,264 53,250 43,724 36,286 22,542 Water Sewerage Total 16,771 38,602 42,053 47,136 51,326

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