The Shadwick UC News Round Up serves to take the big issues from the utility industry and looks at how they will affect our customers. We trawl through the important news stories so you don’t have to. Here is December’s
Heating Homes
This is probably the question I get asked most in my day-to-day conversations with clients. It is also the fastest moving news story in the industry at the moment. As the government blow hot and cold on hydrogen (playing it down one minute, moving forward with ‘town trials’ the next) and with the gas networks proposed departure from the ENA, the argument for heat pumps gets stronger by the week.
The increase of the grant under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme to £7,500 (air source and ground source) and continued feedback that they aren’t quite the noise nuisance we once thought they would be is pushing more people in the direction of heat pumps.
For new developers however, the lack of any financial support in the form of a grant continues to be a threat to margins. That said, the signs for going down the heat pump route have never been as strong as they are right now. If you do decide to take the plunge, the importance of doing your homework regarding the installer cannot be stressed enough in the absence of an accreditation scheme like Gas Safe.
Water Behaviour
Here at Shadwick UC HQ, we are monitoring the water situation with great interest. While the major water networks carefully consider their approach for the next financial year, questions continue to be asked around our clean water usage habits (can we realistically get ourselves below the golden 100 litres per person per day?) as well as the strain the recent weather (especially up here in Sheffield!) has had on the sewage system.
With water networks seemingly under more pressure to hit targets set in the next price review (not a single one managed it after PR19), this will hopefully mean that the incentives for developers as of April will be much more attractive. Thames alone are looking to increase their Tier 2 and 3 discounts by 150% and 78% respectively. Given the proposed increases to infrastructure charges, these will be very much needed.
It is one of our jobs to know how our clients can best take advantage of the incentive schemes put into place. These can vary massively from one network to the next so watch this space…
Electric Network Connections
The ongoing work around introducing milestones and the removal of ‘zombie projects’ can only be good news. We are talking about the big connections here but the freeing up of capacity surely benefits any developer looking to connect to the grid.
It is BAU for us to establish provisional dates for different stages of the projects we work on – lovely to see the DNOs catching up!
A Round Up of the Rest
There is plenty going on in the world of solar at the moment. The rethinking of the connection queuing system is a positive as is the call to look at repurposing brownfield sites as solar developments. Add that to the fact that more residential installations are falling under Permitted Development Rights and it’s fair to say that things are looking up for solar.
We are also keeping a keen eye on the progress of the NUAR (National Underground Asset Register) which is now to cover England and Wales. Having all available data under one roof will be one of the most significant technological developments the industry has seen in recent years.
Finally, you have to feel for the manufacturers of electric vehicles at the moment. It feels like the public are being told that there is less of a rush to go and buy them but the targets the manufacturers are being set don’t seem to reflect that. From our perspective, advising commercial clients on the futureproofing of their connections for EV has not changed one bit.
If you have any comments on anything covered in the news review or have a suggestion for a future topic please email contact@shadwickutilityconsultants.co.uk