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UTILITY WEEK FEATURES PROGRAMME 2012

We have four to six features in each weekly issue. Once a month, we have a "themed" issue as listed below. If you want to contribute to either a themed or non-themed edition, please email a short pitch covering what you want to say to features editor Karma Ockenden on [email protected]

27 January - GREEN DEAL
The government's flagship energy efficiency scheme is due to launch in October. This will allow individual householders to carry out efficiency improvements to their homes with costs met by a finance provider and repaid over an agreed period via the electricity bill. This poses many new issues for energy suppliers, including: the structure and management of relationships with financiers, installers/providers and local authorities; new interactions and competitive opportunities with customers; operations and administration challenges; payment and debt collection and management activities; and ensuring low income and vulnerable customers get a fair crack of the whip.
Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves CRM, ICT, billing, energy efficiency solutions, energy monitoring, metering, finance, customer service, contact centres, personal credit assessment, payments management or debt management.

24 February - THE RETAILER OF THE FUTURE
Are today's energy suppliers and water companies up to the challenge of serving tomorrow's customers? Will smart metering finally open the door for trusted specialists from outside the industry to manage energy customer relationships? Which brands will prove popular? Will more of us be buying energy from our local authorities or other Energy Services Companies? And how many businesses will be buying their water from new entrant retailers? We take a look into the crystal ball, exploring a host of issues including customer service, billing, tariffing, smart homes and metering, remote management, energy services and demand response.
Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves smart metering, smart grid, data expertise, customer service, CRM, ICT, billing, tariffing, energy monitoring, branding, debt management or contact centres.

30 March - HEAT
Towards the end of 2011, the Renewable Heat Incentive suffered an unexpected delay when the European Commission said the tariff for large biomass was too high. Where is the £860 million scheme in early 2012? Among other areas this edition will look at are energy from waste, anaerobic digestion, biogas, electric heating, the future of the gas network and district heating.
Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves heat technologies, asset management, environmental consulting, connections, planning or supply chain management.

27 April - FUNDING AND FINANCING
As the new financial year dawns, we will examine how global and European financial market trends are affecting funding in the sector and the structure of corporate balance sheets. Closer to home, will Electricity Market Reform encourage energy infrastructure investment, and how are investors reacting to price limit structural changes being driven by Ofwat in water? The Green Investment Bank, sector subsidies, smart financing...this edition will look at all the key financial issues of the moment.
Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves finance, investment, consultancy, risk management, accounting, planning, legal expertise or infrastructure.

25 May - SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS
In 2012, utilities will assume further responsibilities for the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. Water company social tariffs will begin to fill the vacuum left by insufficient public funding for people who struggle to pay their bills. By the end of the year, energy suppliers will be subject to a new obligation - the Energy Company Obligation - which will underpin the Green Deal by focusing on vulnerable customers or those in hard to treat housing. Fuel and water poverty more widely will remain high profile issues, while work to look at how priority customers are defined and treated is also expected.
Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves customer service, data management, billing, tariffing, energy efficiency, water efficiency, consumer advocacy, customer profiling, CRM, payments management or debt management.

29 June - OLYMPICS
The world will be looking to London to provide faultless service for this, the greatest - and greenest - sporting event on the planet. The utilities involved will be expected to be ready on time, to deliver on sustainability commitments, and to stay out of the news while providing impeccable services. Will it be a gold medal performance? And how well will utilities have kept Londoners happy while making network preparations with the inevitable roadworks consequences? What lessons will there be to pass on to the next Olympic host?
Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves marketing, public relations, stakeholder relationship management, infrastructure delivery, engineering, streetworks systems, risk management, operations planning or security.

20 July - SUPPLY CHAIN SUCCESS
This issue will host our second annual Utility Support Services Index - research conducted for Utility Week ranking the main companies that supply services to the sector in fields such as construction, consultancy and metering. Elsewhere we will look at developments in partnering and alliancing structures; supply chain carbon footprinting; project delivery innovations; workforce skills and training; network maintenance and development; and programme management.
Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves supplying services to utilities, project and programme management, engineering, asset maintenance and management, streetworks systems, training or legal expertise.

28 September - COLD WEATHER CHALLENGES
As autumn turns to winter, utilities face a very difficult time of year. Operationally, the likes of freeze/thaw conditions can play havoc with pipe networks; storms can bring down power lines; while heavy rain can wreck infrastructure, overload sewers and cause flooding. Utility emergency response and customer service teams must be prepared for the worst. Meanwhile energy pricing becomes an urgent consumer issue and fuel poverty a top priority.
Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves contingency planning and business continuity, disaster response, billing, data management, CRM, customer service, contact centres, engineering, asset management, public relations or consumer advocacy.

26 October - LOW CARBON TRANSITION
With the next round of international climate change talks looming, and the government already signed up to some pretty tough decarbonisation targets, this edition will take a snap shot of how the industry is progressing towards a low carbon future. What demands will the new 2012 Energy Bill make? What will Electricity Market Reform mean for the fuel mix? What of low carbon networks, the smart meter rollout, smart grids and the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme?
Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves smart metering, smart grid, asset management, finance, planning, demand management, green technologies, data management, carbon accounting, emissions trading or environmental consultancy.

30 November - NET GAINS
This edition will host our annual research ranking energy supplier and water company websites on their design, functionality and usability. Will your site be a hit or a miss? We will also update you on related developments including social media opportunities and challenges, e-payments, customer contact strategies, online security and all things smart.
Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves web design and consultancy, ICT, customer service, contact centre management, billing, Apps development, data management and virtual security.


SPECIAL SERIES
We will also be running two special series in 2012:

Spring series - ELECTRIC VEHICLES
This will run one article per month between February and June, scrutinising:

• charging infrastructure

• consumer response and uptake potential

• implications, challenges and opportunities for distribution networks

• electricity supply competition - will EVs lead to new suppliers in the energy market?

• smart links - how closely is smart linked to the electric vehicle revolution? Which parts of the smart grid underpin the change and which are optional?

Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves billing, charging infrastructure, CRM, marketing, stakeholder engagement, asset management, smart meters, smart grids, branding, connections, research and development or any EV technology or service.

Autumn series - FINDING A PRICE
This will run one article per month between September and November, looking at:

• water - what are the practical options for setting water prices in a trading environment? Can it be left to local markets? Are special arrangements required, and what should Ofwat's role be?

• electricity - how will Feed In Tariff Contract for Difference prices be set? It's far from clear who will have what role in that process, and the UK's illiquid electricity market makes it hard to find a market price to base it on.

• carbon - what is the future for the price of carbon? Europe's Emissions Trading Scheme has stumbled in its early years. Is it now set to provide a robust price, at the level needed? And what will be the effect in the UK of setting a carbon price floor?

Marketers: be interested in this issue if your business involves economic consultancy, general consultancy, regulatory expertise, governance, carbon accounting, environmental consultancy, renewables technologies or services, or research and development.

To discuss opportunities for partnering with Utility Week on either series, to cement your position as topic thought-leader, contact Fay Newman as below. Partnering packages include branding of the independently-sourced articles plus a host of related opportunities such as links to your white papers, research and case studies; participating in topic-based discussion forums; setting up a microsite on www.utilityweek.co.uk; and contributing complementary material to the website and magazine.

Contacts
Editorial: contact features editor Karma Ockenden on [email protected] or 0208 651 7076 to put forward feature ideas for either themed or non-themed issues; to contribute to the special series; or for editorial queries.

Advertising: contact Fay Newman on [email protected] or 020 8651 7068 or Emma Leadbeatter on [email protected] or 020 8651 7073.