 |
|
|
|
|
PROGRAMME INFO |
|
|
|
|
|
Peter Day examines trends and developments in industry and the world of work.
Send your comments to:
The Editor
In Business,
1210 大象传媒 White City,
London
W12 7TS
|
|
|
|
|
LISTEN AGAIN |
|
|
|
|
PRESENTER |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
We try to make ear-grabbing programmes about the whole world of work, public and private, from vast corporations to modest volunteers.
In Business is all about change. New ways of work and new technologies are challenging most of the assumptions by which organisations have been run for the last 100 years. We try to report on ideas coming over the horizon, just before they start being talked about. We hope it is an exhilarating ride.
Peter Day |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PROGRAMME DETAILS |
|
|
|
|
|
Power Failure
We take electricity for granted. When the power supply fails it's an emergency. But behind the light switch is a hugely complicated network of power generation, distribution and supply. Electricity is perishable: it's almost impossible to store, and because demand varies from minute to minute the power supply has to satisfy these variations.
Now there's a crisis in the industry; the company that generates a quarter of all our power is on the brink of bankruptcy, and may have to be bailed out by the government. Many power stations are losing money for every watt they generate. How did it come to this when not so long ago there was windfall tax on the power industry?
The regulator points to cheaper electric bills but should price control be their primary aim? Does foreign ownership matter and is security of supply threatened now that North Sea gas is running out? We might think it is impossible that the lights could go out but they did in the worlds most advanced economy in 2001. Should the electricity industry be subjected to the free market? Peter Day has been finding out what's happening in this vital industry.
Interviewees:
Ian Fells, Professor of Energy Conversion at University of Newcastle
Paul Golby, CEO of Powergen UK
David Newbery, Professor of Applied Economics at University of Cambridge
Callum McCarthy, CEO of Ofgem
Severin Borenstein, Director of Energy Institute, Berkeley
Peter Fraser, International Energy Agency
|
|
|
RELATED LINKS
|
|
|
|
See AlsoThe 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of external sites |
