Utility Week

4 | 6TH - 12TH APRIL 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... Santos surges 21% on Harbour Energy offer Shares in Santos surged to a 32-month high last week aer Harbour Energy made a fresh bid for the company. The Australian oil and gas producer's stock was up 21 per cent in Sydney, at its highest since August 2015. That came aer Harbour Energy, backed by private equity group EIG Global Energy Partners, offered A$13.5 billion to acquire the company. The price of A$6.50 per share for Santos is up from the A$4.55 per share rejected by Santos in August. Financial Times, 3 April Google to map poten- tial of UK domestic solar generation Google is planning to use satellite imagery to map the "solar poten- tial" of Britain's rooops as part of a push into the renewable energy industry. The data could be used to encourage British households to install solar panels. Using imagery from the Google Maps and Google Earth applications, the tech giant will calculate the total amount of sunlight that falls on a rooop every year by using weather data, the position of the sun across the seasons, the size and pitch of the roof, as well as any shadows from surrounding buildings or trees. The Guardian, 30 March Cape Town introduces 'water police' Earlier this year it looked like Cape Town was going to run out of water. As a consequence, at the beginning of February officials introduced a series of water restrictions that are so draconian they have no precedent worldwide. It is not like they had much choice. This bustling city of four million has gone three years without significant rainfall – and the six dams which supply this ocean-side community are running dangerously low. Sky News, 2 April STORY BY NUMBERS National media Ofgem bans Iresa from taking on new customers S mall energy supplier Iresa has been banned by Ofgem from taking on new cus- tomers for up to three months until it resolves customer service problems. The company, which is currently subject to a separate longer-term investigation by the regulator, has also been banned from increasing existing custom- ers' direct debits and asking customers for one-off payments during the period. Ofgem has ordered Iresa to improve its customer service and has outlined several ways it expects the company to address the issue. These include: extending call centre hours and bring- ing down average call waiting times; responding to customer emails within five working days; clearing a backlog of emails; logging and recording customer dissatisfaction; and identifying vulnerable customers, including offering to put them on a priority services register. The regulator said it would monitor Iresa's response and warned that if the energy sup- plier failed to take these steps it could result in the revocation of its supplier licence. Dermot Nolan, chief execu- tive of Ofgem, said: "This order sends out a very clear message to suppliers that where they fail their customers on service, Ofgem will step in and take strong action. Responding to Ofgem's ban, a spokesperson for Iresa said: "Iresa is actively working to fix the issues raised by Ofgem. We are confident that our customers will see a noticeable improve- ment in our customer service response times and we apologise to customers who we have let down in the past." Ofgem said it had decided to intervene because of the "substantial information" it had suggesting Iresa's customer service failings risked causing customers "immediate harm". It has received details from Citizen's Advice, the Ombuds- man, and Ofgem's own monitor- ing function. KP See analysis, p28 More than 11m smart meters installed More than 11 million smart meters and advanced meters are now in operation across the UK, according to quarterly figures from BEIS. 10m smart and advanced meters installed in domes- tic properties. 1m smart and advanced meters installed in smaller non-domestic properties. 1.3m domestic smart meters installed in fourth quarter of 2017. 12% quarterly increase in domestic smart meter installations. 7% quarterly increase in non-domestic smart and advanced meter installations. "It's no longer an excuse to say these were extraordinary weather situations – the old extraordinary is now the ordinary" Lambeth Green Party councillor Scott Ainslie criticises Thames Water for supply disruptions caused by the severe weather.

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