Utility Week

UtilityWeek 6th April 2018

Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government

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UTILITY WEEK | 6TH - 12TH APRIL 2018 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Utility Week Live The top five disruptive regulatory developments, to be scrutinised at the show on 22-23 May. 12 Policy & Regulation 12 | News Onshore wind could bid in CfD auctions 14 | Analysis Will plans to exempt green tariffs from price caps help suppliers game the system? 15 | Comment Paul Massara says we should do what we know works 16 | Analysis Water.Retail reveals how well the water market is working 19 | Market view Energy companies on the front line facing cyber-attacks 20 | Market view Why the UK's energy professionals are happy, but want to leave anyway 21 Finance & Investment 21 | News SSE warns of period of uncertainty 22 Operations & Assets 22 | High viz Control and monitoring of hydropower on the River Drina in Serbia 24 | Roundtable The inevitability of the rise of artificial intelligence in utilities 27 Customers 27 | News Toto transfers prepay customers to Utilita 28 | Analysis Last Chance Saloon for Iresa 30 Community 31 | Disconnector GAS 19 | Market view Cyber-security and energy 20 | Market view How to retain your happy, well- paid staff WATER 16 | Analysis Ranking the water companies 21 | News UU trading in line with expectations 27 | News Biggest companies attract most gripes 27 | News Crypto incident costs Bristol £100k ELECTRICITY 21 | News Green subsidy-free 'revolution' by 2030 22 | High viz Monitoring hydropower in Serbia ENERGY 12 | News Javid rejects open cast mine plan 12 | News BEIS mulls options for low-carbon heat 12 | News Smart appliances will unlock DSR 14 | Analysis Green tariffs and price caps 15 | Comment Fantasy policymaking in an energy crisis 27 | News Southampton Council to launch supplier 28 | Analysis Iresa in Ofgem's Last Chance Saloon 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 What is happening in energy retail? Industry players in different camps are all likely to have different answers. But amid a flurry of merger, acquisition, liquidation and regulatory intervention announcements, it's hard not to come away with the impression that the market is in chaos. A bout of news about smaller suppliers struggling to look aer their customers properly is likely to look particularly dubious to consumers whose trust in the industry is already at a low ebb. Ofgem has taken the radical step of banning small supplier Iresa from taking on new customers until it gets its house in order on ser- vice. Meanwhile, Toto Energy has offloaded thousands of prepayment customers to its mid-sized cousin Utilita, suggesting it found caring for these generically difficult-to-serve customers too challenging. And adding fuel to the fire, the latest league table for service quality from Citizens Advice showed a high proportion of energy minnows lagging their larger peers, prompting national media headlines warning customers of the perils of switching to small energy brands. Larger suppliers might be excused for rubbing their hands at this bad press for challengers, having so oen been compared unfavour- ably to "underdog" new entrants. But do they have time to indulge in such triumphalism? As competition authorities work through the tangle of interests in the SSE-Innogy-Eon saga, and First Utility settles down under the wing of oil giant Shell, it seems all segments of the market are subject to volatility and sudden change – Utility Week understands another significant mid-tier M&A is in the pipeline, to be confirmed shortly. It would be easy to attribute much of this frantic manoeuvring and posturing to pre-price cap panic. Firms are undoubtedly try- ing to quickly understand how the new regulation will affect their revenues and acting to mitigate negative effects on their competitive position by whatever means seem best. Meanwhile regulators and consumer bodies have never been hotter on exposing and punishing poor treatment of customers. But the crescendo in retail market volatility is more than a reac- tion to market intervention. What we are seeing now is the beginning of a climax of mounting systemic problems in the UK's competitive energy market – including unequal treatment for suppliers depend- ing on size – amplified by macro-technological and social trends. Hold on to your hats – there's more disruption to come, and the cap won't stop it. Suzanne Heneghan, associate editor, suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com Leader Suzanne Heneghan

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