New Year press round-up: Sewage spill monitors extend reach to cover all England

In our review of sector coverage over the festive break, water companies have hit their target for monitoring storm overflows but have come under fire for not producing live maps of spills. The electricity system had its greenest year on record in 2023 but there are warnings that progress must not stall as the decarbonisation journey gets harder. There were also reports on new energy switching proposals and slow progress on both onshore wind development and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Sewage spill monitors extend reach to cover all England

All of England’s storm overflows are now electronically monitored, making it easier to hold water companies to account, the government has announced.

The monitors, called EDMs, report in real time when water companies are releasing sewage into rivers and seas.

There’s been a steady increase in the number of storm overflows being monitored in the last decade.

Sewage is only supposed to be spilled after heavy rain, but last year there were 1.75 million hours of discharges.

There are close to 15,000 storm overflows in England and the government set England’s nine water companies the target of having them all monitored by the end of 2023.

“The completion of storm overflow monitoring is a major step forward in better protecting our precious waterways, as well as the communities and wildlife that rely on them,” said Environment Secretary Steve Barclay.

While many of the companies comfortably reached the goal of total monitoring, the England-wide target was achieved after Thames Water, the UK’s largest water company, recalculated how many outflows form part of its network.

Last year it reported that just 61% of its 777 overflows were monitored.

After the BBC queried how it had managed to reach 100% this year, Thames Water said that as well as adding monitors it had found after closer examination that 158 of the overflows it reported in 2022 did not in fact need to have a monitor installed. In these cases, a Thames spokesman explained, outfalls were discovered to no longer be connected to the sewage network or to be duplicates of other outfall permits.

The Environment Agency, the regulator, said it was happy with Thames Water’s assessment that it now has just 619 outflows. It is responsible for receiving the EDM data and investigating illegal spills.

BBC News

Water companies break promise on sewage spill maps

Water companies have reneged on a promise to produce live maps of sewage spills by the end of last year, leading campaigners to warn they are putting public health at risk.

Just months after The Times’ Clean it Up campaign began, senior water industry sources said companies would beat a 2025 legal deadline for near real-time online maps of discharges. Instead, they said all firms would go faster and release them before the end of 2023.

The pledge was seen as a big step forward for transparency on the annual 300,000-plus raw sewage discharges.

However, no new maps were released after the promise was made. That means swimmers, paddleboarders and other water users are reliant on a “sewage alert” map created by the charity Surfers Against Sewage.

Thames Water was the first to publish a comprehensive map, in January last year, prompting a series of negative headlines about days-long spills. Southern Water and South West Water have limited maps covering beaches but not rivers, known as Beachbuoy and WaterFit respectively.

On New Year’s Day, Thames Water’s map showed scores of spills in Oxfordshire, while Southern had spills from the Isle of Wight in the west to Folkestone in the east. Five of nine monitored beaches between Exmouth and Lyme Regis were spilling sewage in South West Water’s region.

It is understood the failure of other firms to meet their mapping promises is due to a reluctance to weather criticism. Companies are also keen not to incur the wrath of politicians, including Steve Barclay, the new environment secretary. Last month, he told them that sewage spills from storm overflows were “unacceptable” and a priority for him.

The Times

Fossil fuels fall to 35% of Britain’s electricity supply

The electricity system had its greenest year on record in 2023 as polluting gas-fired plants were displaced by record imports of cheaper, cleaner energy from Europe, according to the first analysis of the annual power mix.

Fossil fuel generation fell to an all-time low, accounting for only 35 per cent of Britain’s electricity mix, down from 43 per cent in 2022, the analysis of data from Drax Electric Insights by Iain Staffell, of Imperial College London, shows. The figures are based on data to December 18, combined with estimates for the final days of the year.

Imports surged to account for a record 9 per cent of Britain’s electricity mix, driven by low-carbon nuclear power from France and renewable hydro power from Norway. The trend reversed an unusual year in 2022, when Britain became a net exporter of electricity, helping Europe through the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as safety shutdowns of French nuclear plants.

“Because the French nuclear fleet has got back on its feet and is working properly, we’re importing that clean energy instead of burning a lot of gas in the UK,” Staffell said.

The result is that annual emissions are estimated to have fallen by 20 per cent to a record low, beating the previous figure set in 2020 when the pandemic caused a collapse in demand. The carbon intensity of the grid — a measure of emissions for every unit of electricity used — was also lower than before.

The record-breaking green year came despite a slight reduction in wind power output. “We’ve got a fair bit more installed than we had [in 2022], but it’s not been as windy,” Staffell said.

Power demand in the UK fell to a record low last year as the cost of living crisis and high consumer energy prices compounded a long-term trend of declining usage driven by efficiency savings and reduced industrial demand. However, Staffell said that trend could be reversed within the next few years.

“At some point, demand is going to turn around and start going up again,” he said, “because of all the new electric vehicles coming on the system and all the electric heat pumps that are going in to replace gas boilers. It might be next year that is the absolute low and then it’s going to start going back up again.”

Staffell also said that imports of electricity were likely to increase further this year as a new power link with Denmark comes into operation. In 2023 about 55 per cent of power imports were from France and 35 per cent were from Norway, with the remainder coming from Belgium and the Netherlands. “It’s good news for consumers that we can import from abroad, because otherwise our bills would be higher,” Staffell said.

The Times

Force developers to offer perks for green energy projects, Tories say

Developers should be forced to give people money off their energy bills when solar and wind farms are built in their communities, senior Conservatives have said.

Currently, those wanting to build renewable energy projects facing opposition from local residents are able to voluntarily offer perks such as money off bills.

But Tory MPs from across different factions have now said this must be made mandatory and developers should be forced to pay off communities.

The move is seen as a key driver in getting people “onside” with net zero. The government’s response to a consultation on community benefits, published last month, recommended electricity bill discounts of £1,000 a year, or around £80 a month, over ten years for those living closest to transmission infrastructure such as high-voltage cables and towers to support them, as well as transformers. Wider community benefits of up to £200,000 were recommended for additions such as overhead lines, underground cables and substations.

But this is voluntary and energy-generation infrastructure — such as solar and wind farms — is not covered.

Sir Simon Clarke, the former communities secretary, told The Times: “To power our economy affordably and securely as we deliver net zero, we have to build more renewable energy onshore as well as offshore.”

He said energy firms should be forced to “incentivise” communities “to accept new electricity generation and transmission infrastructure that will bring long-term benefits”.

Clarke branded the current set-up, whereby developers can voluntarily offer the perks, as “piecemeal”. “It is therefore right that the government requires all developers to provide a minimum level of community benefits to help unlock the economic opportunities net zero can provide to the UK,” he said.

Richard Graham, the Conservative MP for Gloucester, also backed the move. He said: “In order to expand our renewables capacity, we are going to have to build more onshore wind and solar farms and upgrade our energy infrastructure where there is local consent. To do this, the prime minister is right that we need to bring communities with us.”

He added: “The government should consider being bolder and making community benefits for both renewable energy schemes and grid projects mandatory for developers. Mandatory community benefits will help ensure more communities are onside for new renewable projects and that more people gain economically from the transition.”

The Times

‘One-click’ energy switch will let households change energy supplier in just seven days under plans considered by Ministers

Households will be able to switch their energy supplier within seven days, under plans being considered by Ministers.

Officials are looking at replicating the banking switch guarantee, which lets people easily change current accounts, in the energy industry. This could lead to customers saving hundreds of pounds a year.

A source familiar with the plans said switching would become a ‘one-click process’ by improving the way data is securely shared between energy firms, adding that the goal is to ‘take seven-day current account switching and clone it’.

The reforms, which are being worked on as part of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, would save consumers money by boosting competition in the sector.

At present, energy regulator Ofgem requires energy companies to help customers switch within 21 days, but in practice this process can take far longer and is prone to errors.

In some cases, customers waited more than 100 days to change provider. Complaints to the Energy Ombudsman hit a record high last year, with switching problems being one of the main causes of complaint. Of the total cases heard, 75 per cent ended up being resolved in the customer’s favour.

In 2013, then-Chancellor George Osborne introduced the Current Account Switch Service, which put the onus on banks to help people move accounts – and guaranteed it would be done in seven days.

Conservative MP John Penrose said the UK’s open-banking rules, which facilitate data sharing between financial institutions, should be replicated across ‘broadband, energy and water bills as soon as possible’. He called on Ministers to set out a timeline ‘within weeks’.

Daily Mail

Britain falling ‘well short’ of electric car charger targets

Britain is falling “well short” on electric car charging infrastructure targets – as a £950m fund remains largely untouched.

In 2022, the Department for Transport pledged to install at least six rapid or ultra-rapid chargers at every motorway service area by the end of 2023. But only 46 of the 119 sites meet the target, according to analysis by the RAC.

Installing high-powered chargers on motorways and major A roads is a crucial part of the Government’s plan to encourage more drivers to switch to electric vehicles, as it is hoped this will dispel drivers’ fears of running out of charge on long journeys. High-powered chargers can deliver 100 miles of range to an electric vehicle in around 35 minutes.

The Government wants around 6,000 of these chargepoints on strategic roads by 2035. Yet so far, only 581 have been installed on England’s motorways. There would be at least 714 if the Government had met its target for 2023.

It comes as in 2020, the Government set aside £950m to support the rollout of these chargers. The fund was designed to provide grants covering the cost of upgrades in motorway services areas where it is not commercially viable for private firms to install chargers.

However, as of last month, the Department of Trade had allocated just £70m from this pot to a pilot scheme involving upgrades at 10 motorway service stations.

One reason for the delay is that the fund has faced investigations from the regulator. The Competition and Markets Authority has previously flagged concerns that the fund could entrench competition problems in the industry.

As well as unveiling the pilot scheme, the Government opened a consultation, closing in February, on the design of the fund and where chargers are needed most.

Only 18 service areas have no rapid charging, according to the RAC. However, four have no charging facilities at all, including Leicester Forest on both sides of the M1, Tebay South on the M6, and Barton Park on the A1(M).

Simon Williams, of the RAC, said: “It’s clear from our research that the Government has fallen well short of its target of having six high-powered chargers at every motorway service area in England.

“There is undoubtedly an eagerness among chargepoint companies and motorway service operators to install these types of units but unfortunately, it’s often the high-power cabling to the grid that’s the major barrier which is out of their hands.

“More clearly needs to be done to make this process simpler than it is currently.

“Hopefully once the Government’s rapid charging fund kicks fully into action, some of these hurdles will be overcome.”

The Daily Telegraph

Zero onshore wind plans submitted in England since de facto ban was ‘lifted’

No new plans for onshore wind have been accepted in England since the government claimed it had “lifted” the de facto ban, new analysis reveals.

Renewable energy organisations warned at the time that this was likely. Despite the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, having changed planning rules introduced in 2015 by the then prime minister, David Cameron, to stop onshore wind projects being blocked by a single objection, they still face higher barriers than every other form of infrastructure, including waste incinerators.

Analysis of the government’s renewable energy planning database shows that no applications for new onshore wind projects have been submitted since the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, claimed that the government would overturn the onshore wind ban in September 2023.

At the time, the National Infrastructure Commission advised the government to go further and restore onshore wind to the government’s Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects process, which would encourage more applications.

The government rejected this recommendation and said the measures announced in September were enough.

Analysis by Carbon Brief estimates that if onshore wind had continued to be built at the same rate it was in 2017 – before the ban started to come into effect – 7GW of onshore wind would have been built. This would have knocked £5.1bn off energy bills, or £182 for each UK household, in the year from July 2022 to June 2023.

Greenpeace UK’s policy director, Doug Parr, said: “As predicted, the government’s futile planning tweaks amounted to absolutely nothing and the de facto ban is still well and truly in place. Why would a developer risk putting their cash behind a project that remains beholden to woolly guidelines and the unworkable decisions made by some local councils?

“Onshore wind is the cheapest, quickest and greenest way to produce energy. Ramping up production would lower energy bills, slash emissions and bolster the UK’s energy security. We should be building them everywhere it makes sense to generate. But as things stand, you’ve got more chance of spotting a flying pig than a new onshore windfarm in the UK.”

Ed Miliband, the shadow energy secretary, said a Labour government would end the effective ban on onshore wind.

A spokesperson for the levelling up department said: “We’ve updated the national planning policy framework to make it easier and quicker for onshore wind projects to come forward, where there is local support. These changes will need time to take effect but will ultimately pave the way for more projects while ensuring that the views of the community are taken into account.”

The Guardian

Swedish ‘Spotify of heat pumps’ hopes to reach more UK homes

Britain’s plan to wean homes off fossil fuels has had a tepid start, but despite its lukewarm beginning, the market for heat pumps is hotting up.

The Swedish clean energy company Aira is leading a new wave of companies preparing to harness the growing interest in low-carbon home heating, and is positioning itself as the “Spotify of heat pumps”.

The company’s chief executive, Martin Lewerth, believes its subscription service could soon help 5m households across Europe – including 1m in the UK – turn their back on gas boilers for good.

Aira hopes to counter the nagging concerns that have hampered Britain’s take-up of heat pumps by offering an end-to-end subscription service. For a monthly payment and no upfront charge, its engineers will install and then service the kit.

“The number one hurdle for many consumers is the high upfront costs of buying and installing a heat pump. So we’re removing that,” he said. “We don’t want to help affluent households only – we want to make heat pumps available to many households across Europe.”

Aira was founded last year in Stockholm with the backing of the Swedish impact investor Vargas, but it has its sights set on European countries where the heat pump market is preparing to grow at pace. It began a pilot scheme in Italy earlier this year, and plans to launch in Germany as well as the UK.

As part of this plan, it will invest £300m in the next three years in a series of academies across the UK, which it predicts will produce an 8,000-strong army of skilled installers to fit the heat pumps, manufactured at its factory in Poland. Its first two UK academies will be based in Sheffield and London.

This workforce will underpin Aira’s commitment to complete each installation within 30 days of order, and provide a 10-year service guarantee that households will enjoy 20C comfort on even the coldest day of the year.

Aira customers typically choose to pay back the cost of the heat pump, and its installation, over 10 years, or half the expected lifespan of the heat pump. If a customer moves house, they are able to pass the contract to the next owner, or pay the balance of the deal off with the proceeds from the sale.

Official figures released late last week revealed that the government’s recent decision to increase the size of the grants available towards a new heat pump to £7,500 had ignited a surge in demand.

The number of households applying for a grant, which goes towards the cost of a new heat pump, reached 1,150 in the first week at the more generous level – more than three times higher than the average weekly rate before the change. In the three weeks that followed, new applications remained almost 60% higher, according to the government.

Lewerth acknowledges that, though he is offering a novel business model for Britain’s heat pump market, it is unlikely to remain unique to Aira for long. He expects others to follow suit, and has already been approached by energy suppliers potentially interested in partnering with the company to bring the offer to their customers. It is likely to become a crowded marketplace, but gaining even a small foothold in the UK could prove lucrative.

The Guardian

The UK is halfway to net zero, but the next stage will affect us all

At some point in the next few months the UK will reach the halfway point on the road to net zero. It’s been a smooth ride so far — you may have barely noticed you were even making the journey. But the rest of the trip could be rather more bumpy.

Greenhouse gas emissions fell to 417 million tonnes last year 49 per cent lower than the official baseline in 1990, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. In the same period, the economy grew by 75 per cent. This year, or maybe next, the UK hit the halfway mark.

Some argue, using different metrics, that we have already passed this milestone. Last week headlines proclaimed that Britain had become the first G20 country to halve its emissions. Based on a starting point of its peak in 1971 and counting carbon dioxide produced from fossil fuels, rather than all greenhouse gases, we are about 52 per cent down.

“The UK has done a good job so far,” says Bob Ward, policy director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. “But it’s strange to be halfway through a race and then slow down.”

In September, Rishi Sunak announced that because the UK was “so far ahead of every other country in the world” some climate policies could be delayed. The phase-out of new petrol and diesel cars was pushed back from 2030 to 2035, and a ban on new gas boilers, planned for 2035, was eased.

Sunak’s shift was driven by a desire to create a policy wedge between the Tories and Labour before the general election. But it also recognised that the next half of the net-zero push would be far harder than the first.

Decarbonisation so far has primarily been driven by the phase-out of coal burning in the UK. Demand for coal fell last year to the lowest level since 1757, according to analysis by Carbon Brief. In the early 1970s, when UK emissions were at their peak, we relied on coal-fired power stations for more than 70 per cent of our electricity. The discovery of huge energy reserves in the North Sea, and the resulting 1990s “dash for gas”, was responsible for driving coal use down, but even a decade ago coal generated 40 per cent of UK electricity.

The carbon price floor, introduced in 2013 as a way for big companies to pay for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emitted, and a huge swell of subsidised offshore wind production, completed the virtual eradication of coal use in the UK. Last year coal generated only 1.5 per cent of UK electricity. “It goes to show that government policy can make a big difference,” Ward says.

These changes have been made with very little impact on consumers’ lives. “Electricity from wind looks the same as electricity from coal,” he adds. The wind turbines in the North Sea are invisible to most of us, and closing a coal-fired power plant is barely noticeable unless you live next door.

Cutting UK emissions has also been aided by the transformation of the British economy from one based on manufacturing to one based on service industries. Many of the items we consume are now made overseas; emissions from much of the steel and plastic we use falls on the carbon accounting books of China, India and Vietnam. Our official net-zero calculations include only territorial emissions. Once this is taken into account — and emissions associated with consumption, rather than production, calculated — our tally is still down (mostly due to improvements in technology and energy efficiency) but not nearly as much as the official emissions figures portray.

Efforts are being made to counter this. This month the Treasury published plans to impose carbon border taxes on high-pollution imports by 2027, to avoid UK producers being undercut by cheaper but higher-emission foreign manufacturers.

Even once that tricky issue has been dealt with, the next stage of decarbonisation will be more challenging — and will affect us in all our homes. “Now we have to do things such as move away from gas central heating and away from petrol and diesel vehicles. That is a more challenging prospect, and one in which we’ve got to grasp the nettle,” Ward says.

Read the full article (subscription required) here

The Sunday Times

Utility Week’s weekend press round-up is a curation of articles in the national newspapers relating to the energy and water sector. The views expressed are not those of Utility Week or Faversham House.