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As the dust settled on last week’s election, the political agenda began to take shape this week. Meanwhile, there were finally some positive results for the Big Six, while market reform was top of the agenda in water.
Cabinet confirmed
As David Cameron celebrated his election victory, he got to work filling Cabinet posts. Amber Rudd was appointed as energy minister on Monday, in a move seen as an indication that the pro-renewables policy would outlive Ed Davey’s tenure at Decc.
Liz Truss remains in post at Defra as environment secretary, with the water portfolio set to be handed to either George Eustice or Rory Stewart any day now.
Read Utility Week editor Ellen Bennett’s take on the political manoeuvrings in this week’s leader.
Good news for the Big Six
As the energy mix changes, the traditional suppliers’ business model has come under pressure, with the results of the major European vertically integrated players seemingly in freefall. So two sets of results this week will taste all the sweeter.
EDF saw UK revenues grow 11 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter, thanks to colder weather this year than last.
Meanwhile, RWE Innogy, the renewables arm of the energy giant, reported a 56 per cent increase in its first quarter operating result . This is bucking the trend of falling profits at a group level.
Such success suggests that the emerging strategy sf several of the European energy players to focus on renewables, in Eon’s case, splitting it out from the traditional fossil fuel based generation, is sound.
Water market opening approaches
The opening of the water market for non-household customers was top of the agenda this week, with the publication of the latest iteration of the market blueprint, MAP3. In the accompanying documentation, Open Water highlighted the increasingly tight timetable leading up to the 2017 deadline.
Also mindful of the deadline, leading water companies told Utility Week they need great clarity on the market, while the incoming chair of the Consumer Council for Water, Alan Lovell went as far as to threaten a bid to delay market opening if the right conditions were not in place for customers on time.
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