Company strategy

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Does squeeze on contractors threaten resilience drive?

Cost pressures for the next price control period are leading to strained relationships between water companies and their contractors. Some are switching to tier 2 and 3 directly to make savings – others are tightening margins. A dearth of skilled people in the wake of Brexit is adding to the mix. Will the resilience of the sector suffer? Robyn Wilson reports

4 years ago

Squaring the circle: Building consumer trust in a time of change

From auto-switching services to heat networks and electric vehicles (EVs), Matthew Vickers, chief executive at the Energy Ombudsman, highlights how the consumer relationship with energy and the energy market is changing. Vickers sets out his guiding principles to handling complaints following a merger or acquisition.

4 years ago

Council-owned Victory Energy finally has licences stripped

Portsmouth Council’s energy supplier will finally have its supply licences revoked more than a year since it was scrapped at a cost of at least £2.5 million.

4 years ago

Ofwat confirms inter-company loans will be banned

4 years ago

Utilities sector ‘at risk from poaching’ under new immigration rules

The government's tough stance on immigration is bound to raise questions across the sector about a possible recruitment gap. But, should the greater concern be around retention of talent, in the face of other industries looking to utilities to address their own shortages? Adam John takes a closer look at how utilities and the contractors community anticipate the new post-Brexit immigration rules could affect the industry.

4 years ago

UKPN makes Best Companies to Work For list six years running

UKPN has been placed tenth in the Top 25 Best Big Companies to Work For list and has also received a Discovering Potential award, reflecting its ongoing commitment to apprenticeships and its school engagement programme.

4 years ago

To catch a thief

4 years ago

Utilities have high hopes for drone use

4 years ago

Can Centrica be saved?

Even by the recent catalogue of corporate woes, Centrica’s announcement earlier this month that it had plunged into a loss of more than £1 billion must have been hard to take for outgoing CEO Iain Conn. As further heavy losses for 2019 continue to put the spotlight on the British Gas owner, Adam John looks at the direction of travel now for the energy leviathan and who might be the person to lead it.

4 years ago

Green tariff pledge ‘natural step’ for Scottish Power

4 years ago

Weathering the storm

Gale force winds and a deluge of rain have battered the UK over the past few weeks but thanks to the efforts of staff across the utilities sector, power interruptions have been limited. Paul Fidler, director of operations at the Energy Networks Association, highlights how joined up working has kept the lights on in very difficult conditions.

4 years ago

CCW issues advice on stamping out billing complaints

4 years ago

Ofgem investigates WPD over approach to vulnerable customers

Ofgem has launched an investigation into Western Power Distribution’s (WPD) obligations to its priority service register customers. WPD is the network operator which covers the Midlands, South Wales and the South West.

4 years ago

British Water challenges sector to be more inclusive

4 years ago

‘Levelling up’ is still firmly on the agenda

Yet while news of the departure of Andrea Leadsom as business secretary, and the sacking

4 years ago

Pyper to step down as CEO of NI Utility Regulator

Northern Ireland’s Utility Regulator chief executive Jenny Piper has announced she will retire in the Autumn after almost seven years in the role. Pyper will remain in place to help facilitate the appointment of her successor.

4 years ago

Government must accept ‘economic sense’ of subsidising onshore wind

A leading investor in renewable energy has told Utility Week the government must accept the economic argument that excluding onshore wind from subsidies “makes no sense”. Richard Crawford and Jaz Bains, of The Renewable Infrastructure Group, also warned that the Conservatives' pledge to reach 40GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 was “very challenging” and that a framework for incentivising investment was urgently needed.

4 years ago

Ofwat revokes Tor Water licence

4 years ago

Plans for £1.2bn weather ‘supercomputer’ as utilities grapple with storm aftermath

As utility companies pick up the pieces from a second consecutive weekend of extreme weather, the government has promised to strengthen the country’s resilience by investing £1.2 billion in the world’s most advanced weather and climate forecaster. Utility Week gauges reaction to the project and rounds up how companies have responded to the damage caused by Storm Dennis

4 years ago

Portsmouth hits back at ‘inference of overcharging’

4 years ago