Disconnector Online

This should surprise no one, but the great man is still gob-smacked by the sort of queries fielded by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency...

Incontrovertible proof that there are some saddos out there (number seven in an occasional series). The Energy Networks Association has reported in its latest newsletter that no fewer than four loyal members downloaded the end of year newsletter – on Christmas Day.
It gets worse. While the rest of its membership was stuffing turkey, arguing with loved ones and pulling crackers, the ENA’s website had 899 visitors who made 312 downloads. No fewer than half a dozen opted for that seasonal bestseller The Technical Guide to the Connection of Generation to the Distribution Network. It’s true, I tell you!

Here’s a strange tale. Scottish Water has just announced that it is the first and only water company, not just in the UK but in the world, to achieve accreditation for its product from the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF).

Disconnector was taken with the news that a town’s Olympic-style flame is to be replaced by a lightbulb because of the enormous gas bills it racked up, not to mention its carbon emissions.

Here is an intriguing court case north of the Border has been pitting oil giant Talisman Energy against a renewables minnow in the shape of Pine Energy Consultants.

What is the correct response to the news that Hollywood madame Heidi Fleiss has plans to open what would be the world’s first wind-powered brothel for women in Nevada? Does that make it blue power?

Regular readers of this column will recall the titanic spat between RWE Npower and protesters over the company’s plans to pump ash from its Didcot power plant into nearby Radley Lakes.

You just know issues are beginning to get well and truly cooked once the protagonists start to go over the top verbally. Is this beginning to happen with smart meters? Disconnector thinks so. There was a classic case recently when energy regulator Alistair Buchanan, at a parliamentary meeting, got a tad dismissive about those accursed EDDs (electricity display devices).

What should we make of that patrician Tory peer Lord Jenkin of Roding, a former Conservative cabinet minister? He was involved in some exchanges in the Upper House with Lord Rooker about fuel poverty, benefit checks and data protection issues, which were making it difficult to target vulnerable customers, even though there had been a promising trial involving energy companies and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Al the talk of missing disks and sensitive information reminds Disconnector that it was not so long that our own National Grid used to post details of its underground assets (pipes, wires, etc) to other utilities so they wouldn’t hit a high pressure pipeline or a high voltage cable when carrying out streetworks or whatever.

The great man could not resist this one (though he accepts that journos are often numerically challenged and get their units wrong). The main BBC news website had an intriguing tale on its Scottish page on Monday 28 January.