The Mayor's draft water strategy - london.gov.uk - Greater London ...

takeaways and other cooked food
establishments are the source of most
problems. There is a long-established
infrastructure in the UK for the collection
of used cooking oil (UCO) that can then
be converted into biodiesel and sold as
a transport fuel. As a direct replacement
for diesel fuel, it meets the government’s
Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation’s
sustainability and environmental criteria and
avoids the problems of FOG.
27 Sewage treatment can be another source of
energy. Mogden, Long Reach, Deephams,
Hogsmill and Beddington sewage treatment
work generate electricity by using sewage
gas. There is the potential to increase the
amount of electricity generated and to export
this to the public supply network. Utilising
sewage gas, which is mainly methane, in
this way reduces the release of this powerful
greenhouse gas to the atmosphere.
Proposal 12 The Mayor will work with Thames
Water and other partners to identify ways in
which the management of sewage can provide
renewable energy and reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases. The Mayor encourages
Thames Water and other partners to identify
opportunities to use new technologies to
contribute towards the Mayor’s targets for
decentralised energy, particularly through the
production of biogas, and greenhouse gas
emissions reduction.
Chapter 6 – Paying for water services
28 Understanding the history of the water
industry is important to understanding why
we pay for water in the way that we do.
There was much debate in 19th century
London over whether water should be paid
for through the rates as a public service or
should be metered and paid for according
to use. Eventually, the arguments favouring
a public service won. The majority of
Londoners still pay for their water and
sewerage services on the basis of the
rateable value of the property.
29 Ofwat sets price limits for each company
that allow the companies to finance their
functions. The current price limits were set
in 2004 (referred to as Periodic Review 2004
or PR04) for the period covering 2005-2010.
The next set of price limits, referred to as
PR09, will be set later this year to cover the
period 2010-2015. The government’s role is
to provide the national context of policies
and priorities for the water industry.
30 Thames Water has sought an increase in
customer bills of 17.2 per cent between
2009/10 and 2014/15. Over a quarter of
this increase is accounted for by expenditure
on the Tideway Tunnel. However, in its
draft response to water company plans,
Ofwat has proposed that there should be no
change to Thames Water’s average bills. Cost
increases should be avoided unless they are
truly necessary at all times, and particularly
during a recession. Nevertheless, the Mayor
considers this scheme as necessary to deal
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