Water

Post-lockdown meter reads only possible with customer co-operation

As businesses re-open after lockdown the pressure is on water retailers to read a copious number of meters and accurately update customer bills. Castle Water CEO John Reynolds talks to Utility Week about the storm after the calm.

Defra to bolster water protection targets within Environment Bill

The long-awaited Environment Bill will enshrine protection for waterways that may include new PCC targets, changes to abstraction licences, review of agricultural and wastewater pollutants that enter waterways.

Balfour Beatty quits – but who cares?

#AskUsAnything: Innovation – is Covid an obstacle or opportunity?

Ofwat unveils details of innovation funding

SES charges ahead with EV rollout

As part of a sector-wide pledge to reach carbon net zero by 2030 water companies are having to make big changes to vehicle fleets. Utility Week talks to SES Water’s energy and carbon manager Henrietta Stock, about the progress the company has made so far and the challenges ahead in terms of electrifying HGVs.

Weekend press round-up: Energy sector’s Covid bill hits £1.1bn

In our latest review of sector coverage across the national newspapers, new research puts a figure on the energy industry’s lost income during the pandemic. Meanwhile, SSE hits out at Ofgem’s draft determinations, saying they will cause “years of delay” to renewables projects. There are also reports that suppliers are fearing a surge in bad debts in the autumn as the furlough scheme draws to an end.

Vision of geospatial mapping for all

Last month the government’s Geospatial Committee announced investment in an underground mapping tool developed by Ordnance Survey. However, it is not the first service to provide a blueprint of subterranean Britain. Utility Week profiles the Anglian-owned Digdat.

Displaced ‘Class of 2020’ to be at heart of Northumbrian innovation festival

Balfour Beatty’s exit from water and gas ‘should be a wake-up call’

Switching remains low among water retail customers

Dry weather forces Southern to prepare for drought permit

Southern Water is preparing to apply for a drought permit to allow it to continue abstracting water from a chalk stream after prolonged dry weather lowered the flow of the Hampshire river. Nigel Hepworth, water resources policy manager at Southern, told Utility Week that enhanced reliance on drought permits was “not a great position to be in” but said there was no “quick fix” to the problem.

On the Move: Ex-Centrica director joins Affinity

SVT trial could reduce size of treatment works

Tideway adds final tunnel boring machines