Working in Britain’s utilities

The utilities include electricity, gas, waste management and water, all of which hit the headlines from time to time. This article will consider employment and training for individuals working at the customer end of the business. Much employment is contracted out by the major organisations to a number of smaller companies, which in turn subcontract the work to local firms. It is, therefore, available locally and is not advertised nationally. Increasingly, utilities companies are merging or being acquired so that an organisation supplies more than one utility or the utility is combined with other operations. Some are foreign-owned. The Sector Skills Council (SSC) for this area is Energy & Utility Skills Limited.

Electricity generation, transmission, distribution, metering and supply involve 77,500 employees. In total there are 950 electricity business units functioning across the UK. The vast majority of these businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but most of the employees in the industry are employed by the 50 large organisations. Since 1990, employment has halved, but this trend is coming to an end. Most employers report that employment levels will remain static over the next five years. Transmission is a monopoly activity – National Grid (England and Wales), and Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy (Scotland) operate in their respective countries, while Northern Ireland is connected to the IrishRepublic’s system. Distribution is also a monopoly, although several different groups of companies are involved. All licensed electricity suppliers can sell electricity to customers – using other companies’ distribution networks. Replacement employee demand is for 5,700 jobs per annum, with 82% of employers reporting recruitment difficulties and 91% experiencing skills gaps.

The gas industry covers storage, transmission, distribution, metering, and supply and installation of both natural and liquefied petroleum gas, but does not involve offshore operations. It employs 20,000 people in ‘upstream’ activities (those carried out as far as the meter) and 123,700 in ‘downstream’ ones (everything past the meter). The industry has opened to competition – particularly in retail supply, connections, storage and the operation of independent distribution networks. National Grid (England, Scotland and Wales) and Phoenix Gas (Northern Ireland) undertake the high-pressure transmission of gas from the onshore terminals to the distribution networks through a total of 160,000 miles of pipes (including a 746-mile pipeline feeding natural gas from Norway into the UK). Offshore activities generate £30 billion a year to the UK’s economy at the rate of 3 million barrels of hydrocarbons a day. The downstream sub-sector contains many self-employed people, and very small companies providing installation and maintenance services to industrial, commercial and domestic customers. The only entry requirement into the market is that of CORGI registration (see below).

Waste management involves collection, re-use, recycling, recovery, treatment and final management. These areas directly employ 141,000 people in around 3,500 companies, but with 12 groups controlling most operations. Most companies operate regionally due to the high cost of transporting waste. Until recently, local authorities undertook most waste collection and also operated many landfill sites. Most waste currently ends up in landfill sites, but around 35% of industrial and commercial waste and 12% of household waste is recycled or composted. Every year UK households throw away almost 30 million tonnes of waste. Based on an estimated 2% annual increase in activity, between 10,000 and 12,500 new entrants will be required each year for the next five years.

The water industry includes its catchment, storage, processing, transmission, distribution, metering and supply, as well as sewerage collection, transmission, treatment and disposal of wastewater. It has 166,500 employees with 12 water companies holding licences to provide water supply and sewerage services (water service companies), and 13 water companies licensed to supply water only (regional supply companies. Water service companies supply around 75% of water, with the regional supply companies providing the remainder. In Wales, the principle water company is publicly owned as a non-profitmaking organisation, while, in Scotland, Scottish Water, a public-sector company, provides water and wastewater services across the nation. The Northern Ireland Water Service is responsible for water and wastewater services in the Province.

Utilities and the Services

There is little direct relationship between the utilities and the Armed Forces. Nevertheless, many of the skills required and valued by employers are taught and practised by a number of people in the Services. Generalist skills, such as supervisory management, project management and administration, are wanted, as are all manner of specialists. Some specific Service skills or trades include:

·fuel specialists

·people trained in fuel technology

· water engineers

·electrical engineers.

There are also resettlement training courses in some disciplines useful for the utilities. Individuals should talk with people working in the area to establish a reasonable starting point based on their skills and experience, and then look for the right courses and training.

Training and development

Cogent is the Sector Skills Council for the oil and gas extraction, chemicals manufacturing and petroleum industries. It has developed NVQs/SVQs in the gas supply chain area.

Energy & Utility Skills Limited, the SSC, is developing a set of occupational standards and qualifications as follows.

·General:

– Utilities Control Centre Operations Level 2

– Utilities Metering Operations Level 2

– Utilities Network Planning and Management Level 4

– Engineering Technology Maintenance Support Level 2

– Engineering Technology Operations Support Level 2

– Engineering Technology Maintenance Level 3

– Engineering Technology Operations Level 3

– Revenue Protection Level 3

– Engineering Surveying, Systems or Services Level 4.

· Electricity:

– Electricity System Technology Engineering Support Level 2

– Electricity System Technology Engineering Level 3.

· Gas:

– Gas Network Operations Levels 1 and 3

– Domestic Natural Gas Installation Levels 2 and 3

– Domestic Natural Gas Installation and Maintenance Levels 2 and 3

– Domestic Natural Gas Maintenance Levels 2 and 3

– Gas Network Operations – Mainlaying Level 2

– Gas Network Operations – Servicelaying Level 2

– Gas Emergency Service Operations Level 3

– Gas Network Engineering Management Level 4

– Pipelines (Oil and Gas) Engineering Management Level 4.

· Water:

– Distribution Control Level 2

– Leakage Detection Level 2

– Network Construction Operations: Mainlaying (Water) Level 2

– Network Construction Operations: Servicelaying (Water) Level 2

– Operating Process Plant: Sludge Level 2

– Operating Process Plant: Waste Water Level 2

– Operating Process Plant: Water Level 2

– Utilities Control Centre Operations Level 2

– Utilities Metering Operations Level 2

– Controlling Process Operations Level 3

– Leakage Control Level 3

– Maintain Water Supply (Network) Level 3

– Managing and Controlling Process Operations Level 3

– Network Construction Operations (Water) Level 3.

· Waste:

– Cleaning and Support Services Level 1

– Cleaning and Support Services (Highways and Land) Level 2

– Waste Management Operations Levels 1 and 2

– Waste Management Supervision Level 3

– Managing Waste Collections Operations Level 4

– Recycling Operations Levels 1 and 2

– Management of Recycling Operations Level 3

– Waste Management Operations: Civic Amenity Site Level 3

– Waste Management Operations: Closed Landfill Level 3

– Waste Management Operations: Inert Waste Level 3

– Management of Recycling Operations Level 4

– Management of Recycling Operations: Small Scale Operations Level 4

– Waste Management Operations: Managing Incineration Level 4

– Waste Management Operations: Managing Landfill of Hazardous Waste Level 4

– Waste Management Operations: Managing Landfill of Non–Hazardous Waste Level 4

– Waste Management Operations: Managing Transfer of Hazardous Waste Level 4

– Waste Management Operations: Managing Transfer of Non–Hazardous Waste Level 4

– Waste Management Operations: Managing Treatment of Hazardous Waste Level 4

– Waste Management Operations: Managing Treatment of Non– Hazardous Waste Level 4

– Management of Recycling Operations Level 3.

The Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies Alliance (SEMTA) is the SSC for the engineering field. It has a series of NVQs at Levels 2 and 3, as well as additional qualifications in other disciplines. For electrical engineering, the basic requirement is now the 17th Edition Wiring Regulations and the City & Guilds 2380 qualification. The next step is the Inspection and Testing of Electrical Installation City & Guilds 2391 qualification.

Anyone working on gas appliances or fittings as a business must be competent and registered with the Council of Registered Gas Installers (CORGI). Competency can be proved under the Accredited Certification Scheme (ACS). CORGI provides a route to ACS through a distance learning programme. ACS has a two-day core domestic gas safety assessment and a number of appliance assessments that take half a day each.

Contact information

Cogent SSC Ltd, Unit 5, Mandarin Court, CentrePark, Warrington, Cheshire WA1 1GG Tel: 01925 515200Website: www.cogent-ssc.com

Energy & Utility Skills Limited, Friars Gate, 1011 Stratford Road, Shirley, Solihull B90 4BN Tel: 0845 077 9922 Website: www.euskills.co.uk

Council of Registered Gas Installers, 1 Elmwood, Chineham Park, Crockford Lane, Basingstoke, Hants RG24 8WG Tel: 0800 915 0480 Website: www.trustcorgi.com

Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies Alliance, 14 Upton Road, Watford, Herts WD18 0JT Tel: 01923 238441 Website: www.semta.org.uk

Water UK, 1 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SW1H 9BT Tel: 020 7344 1844 Website: www.water.org.uk