News Categories
Other stories in Water
- Sewage powered car hits streets of Bristol
- Competition Commission allows Bristol Water to increase bills by 15 per cent over five years
- Scottish regulator seeks views on customer participation
- Competition Commission ruling on Bristol 'will encourage companies to gear up'
- Ofwat considers bulk water sales at unregulated prices
Tagcloud
abstraction, AEP, anaerobic digestion, Anglian Water, Australasia, Benelux, BG Group, bil, billing, bills, biomass, Bristol Water, British Energy, British Gas, budget, Business Stream, call centres, carbon, carbon capture, CCWater, Centrica, CHP, climate change, coal, competition, complaints, connections, Conservatives, Consumer Focus, consumer research, cost of capital, credit crunch, customers, Cyprus, Czech Republic, debt, Decc, Defra, defra, Denmark, Department of Energy and Climate Change, distributed generation, Dong, drainage, Drax, Drinking Water Inspectorate, drought, e, Eastern Europe, eco-towns, economy, Ed Miliband, EDF, EDF Energy, effic, Efficiency, efficiency, electricity, electricity distribution, electricity generation, electricity retail, electricity transmission, Eligible households should automatically get £80 refund on energy bill, emergencies, emissions, emissions trading, ENA, Enel, Energy, energy, energy distribution, energy efficiency, energy generation, energy policy, energy retail, Energy retail, energy security, energy services, energy storage, energy suppliers, energy supply, energy transmission, engineering, Eni, environment, Environment Agency, Eon, ERA, ESB, Essent, Eurelectric, Europe, European Commission, European Union, finance, Finland, flooding, France, fuel poverty, gas, gas distribution, gas retail, gas storage, gas supply, gas transmission, gas transport, Gazprom, GDF Suez, geothermal, Germany, health and safety, Heat, heat, hom, hometop, Iberdrola, ice, industrial relations, infrastructure, Infrastructure Planning Commission, innovation, interruptions, IP, Ireland, Italy, jobs, leakage, legal, LNG, maintenance, metering, Morrison, MPs, National Grid, NEA, Netherlands, NI Water, NIAUR, NIE, NIE Energy, Nordic, Northern Gas Networks, Northern Ireland, Northumbrian Water, Npower, nuclear, offshore, offshore wind, Ofgem, ofwat, Ofwat, Ombudsman Service, operations, ownership, pan-utility, Parliament, people, planning, po, policy, politcs, politics, pollution, poverty, pri, price review, pricing, protest, quality, re, regulation, renewables, research, Russia, RWE, Scotia Gas Networks, scotland, Scotland, Scottish and Southern Energy, Scottish Power, Scottish renewables, Scottish Water, security of supply, selling, Severn Barrage, Severn Trent, Severn Trent Water, sewerage, skills, smart grids, smart metering, smart meters, solar, South West Water, Southern Water, Spain, st, storage, streetworks, sustainability, Switzerland, tariffs, Thames, thames water, Thames Water, trading, unbundling, Unison, United Utilities, utility engineering, Vattenfall, vehicles, Veolia, w, waste management, wastewater, wastewater treatment, water, Water, water @homefeatured, water abstraction, water and energy policy, water distribution, water efficiency, water neutrality, water resources, water retail, water supply, water treatment, water uk, Water UK, weather, Welsh Power, Welsh Water, Wessex Water, Wics, wind, WWU, Yorkshire Water, zero-carbon development
< European Commission does U-turn on central ETS allowance trading | Gas grid sales prove slow going >
Water deals make the running in new contracts round
Getting stuck in: billions of pounds of water contracts already signed
Many utility engineering firms have in recent weeks learned what their shares of the spoils will be for the next five-year regulatory period. The water sector has revealed the most so far, as Brendan Coyne discovers.
Thames Water, the biggest water company in the UK, has £5 billion to spend across London and the Thames Valley over the next five years. It has, therefore, held the attention of bidders for its major contracts. Keenly aware of the value of those contracts, Thames has bent the contractors to its will. It announced last week that £1.2 billion-worth of work will be split among three joint ventures set up to undertake "base load" contracts in a bid to boost efficiency.
"Our new approach has changed the way our contractors have bid for the work," says Martin Baggs, chief executive of Thames. "They've formed joint ventures ... and the programmes of work have been structured to allow contractors to plan further ahead and to give them greater incentives to be efficient on cost and time."
Water contractors
The Optimise joint venture between J Murphy & Sons, Clancy Docwra, Barhale and MWH will handle water pipes and sewers in north London and the Thames Valley. In the south, MGJV (Morrison Utility Services and Galliford Try) will do likewise, with Galliford Try, Biwater and Mott MacDonald undertaking water and sewage treatment works in north and south London. A fourth contract for other water and sewage treatment works, worth about £120 million, will be announced by the end of the month "barring earthquakes and acts of God", says a spokesman.
Welsh Water took the industry by surprise earlier this year when it reversed its outsourcing strategy, leaving some contractors counting the cost. It has, however, retained Morgan Est as a capital delivery partner for the fifth asset management period (AMP5). Although the company would not reveal the value of the contract, another retained partner, Costain, expects to bill Welsh Water about £60 million over the period.
One of the biggest water sector winners is Balfour Beatty. The firm signed AMP5 deals worth £600 million with Anglian Water and United Utilities in January, and this month agreed £70 million-worth of work for Yorkshire Water, and a £60 million repair and maintenance contract with Anglian Water.
In the electricity sector, Central Networks is the only distribution network operator to have so far announced major new contracts for the next five-year period. The firm this month agreed infrastructure alliances worth about £500 million each with Morgan Est and Enterprise over the next decade. Morgan Est will upgrade and reinforce Central's networks in the east with Enterprise handling work in the west.
A spokeswoman said the agreements include increases in productivity of 20 per cent to meet efficiency targets outlined by Ofgem. She said the partnership was inspired by National Grid's £1.2 billion alliance with the two providers, which was signed this time last year.
Central Networks has also signed a similar ten-year deal with Morrison Utility Services for connections. The New Connections Alliance aims to speed up connections by closing the gap between design and quote teams and the operators who do the work. The alliance will have a 1,300-strong workforce across shared sites.
Other water contracts
A round-up of the other contracts in the water sector shows May Gurney has done well. In all, the firm has signed water contracts worth up to £355 million for the period with South West, Anglian and Wessex Water.
Alongside its partnership with Central Networks and work with Welsh Water, Morgan Est has also secured a £60 million treatment works contract with Yorkshire Water. And Morrison Utility Services has secured a five-year clean water agreement with Yorkshire in the north and east of the region. The firm says the value of the contract could top £120 million, if it is extended by five years.
AECOM will continue its work in Yorkshire through its ETM joint venture with Morrison Construction. ETM has contracts estimated to be worth £150 million over the period, an increase of 50 per cent on ETM's AMP4 contracts with the utility.
Finally, Northumbrian Water has appointed Fastflow as sole clean water contractor in a contract worth some £200 million over 10 years. The contract safeguards 250 jobs in the region.
Comment on this story
Sign up to our free email newsletters