The utilities include gas, power (including electricity, nuclear and green), 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. The energy and utilities sector employs over 530,000 people.

The gas industry covers storage, transmission, distribution, metering, and supply and installation of both natural and liquefied petroleum gas, and emergency service. 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). Gas is delivered from the gas producers on to the mainland at reception points, which are sometimes known as beach terminals. The gas is transported at a very high pressure from the terminals to local distribution centres, through 275,000 km of iron, steel and polyethylene pipes. The National Control Centre operates and balances the National Transmission System. High-pressure gas is supplied to around 40 power stations and some large industrial companies. Gas is distributed to consumers at a lower pressure than that used for transmission. Gas is distributed:

• On behalf of 70 active gas shippers
• To around 21 million homes and businesses in Britain
• To a small number of third-party pipeline systems.

The downstream sub-sector contains many self-employed people, and very small companies providing installation and maintenance services to industrial, commercial and domestic customers. Engineers also respond to reported gas escapes, fumes gassing, metering faults and reports of no gas. All these companies, with their employees, must be registered on the Gas Safe Register, which has replaced the old CORGI Register, to operate legally. Everyone on the Register is required to demonstrate ongoing competence in matters of gas safety, every five years

Power generation, transmission, distribution, metering and supply involve 77,500 employees. In total there are 950 electricity business units functioning across the UK, 700 of them in England. 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. The key areas within the electricity industry include generation, transmission, distribution and supply. Electricity is generated in gas, oil, coal-fired, nuclear or hydro-electric power stations or wind farms, and an increasing range of renewable energy sources. There are over 2,000 generating stations in the UK. Generated electricity flows on to the national transmission system at a high voltage via a network of transmission overhead lines, supported by steel pylons and underground high-voltage cables. There are more than 340 transmission substations within the system, at 230 locations. The distribution network is made up of overhead lines and underground cables, which bring electricity from the transmission network, via substations, to homes, factories and businesses. The supply area of the industry involves the companies that are responsible for metering the supply of electricity and selling it to the consumer.

Waste management involves collection, re-use, recycling, recovery, treatment and final management. These areas directly employ 141,000 people in around 3,500 companies. Most companies operate regionally due to the high cost of transporting waste. We produce and use 20 times more plastic today than we did 50 years ago. Waste is anything that is no longer wanted or required by someone. The entire population of the UK are waste producers. In addition, waste is produced by industrial, commercial and agricultural organisations. Waste is collected in a number of ways, including:

• Scheduled domestic and commercial collections
• Use of recycling bins and containers
• Hiring of skips and vans
• Taking it to household waste sites and civic amenities sites.

Waste is usually transported by road, although some is transported by rail and via the canal network. Recyclables may be stored prior to processing. The waste management priorities are:

• Reduction (reducing the amount of waste)
• Reuse
• Retention (keeping the waste at source, e.g. home composting)
• Recycling and composting
• Recovery (incineration, waste-to-energy plants)
• Landfill with energy recovery
• Landfill (last resort).

The water industry includes its catchment, storage, processing, transmission, distribution, metering and supply, as well as the sewerage collection, transmission, treatment and disposal of waste water. The industry has 166,000 employees, and an ongoing programme of construction, operation and maintenance of the water and waste water infrastructure. The daily supply of drinking water is constantly maintained to ensure the water we drink is clean and safe. It is not only the clean water that is important; it is the dirty water too – the industry makes sure that there is a sustainable process for the disposal of waste water. Waste water (sewage) leaves homes and businesses and is carried by pipes (the sewerage system) to sewage treatment works, where harmful substances are removed from the dirty water. Purified water is pumped from the water treatment works, through the water mains to houses and industries. The water companies take water from rivers, boreholes and springs, and collect it in man-made reservoirs. They then treat it and distribute it to homes and businesses via an underground network of pipes. Some of the water companies only supply water, which means that they are responsible for supply, treatment and distribution. Others also supply waste water services, so are responsible for sewerage services, and are involved with international operations, environmental consultancy and the design of new systems and plant. In addition to the main water companies, the industry uses contractors to carry out many activities including maintenance and renewal of the whole of the water supply system. The water industry provides 20,000 million litres of water every day to 58 million people.

Training and development

Energy & Utility Skills Limited has developed a set of National and Scottish vocational 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
– Controlling Process Operations level 3
– Managing and Controlling Process Operations level 3
– Revenue Protection level 3
– Engineering Surveying, Systems or Services level 4.

• 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 – Service laying level 2
– Gas Network Operations – Craft level 3
– Gas Emergency Service Operations level 3
– Gas Network Engineering Management level 4
– Pipelines (Oil and Gas) Engineering Management level 4.

• Power:
- Electricity System Technology Distribution Engineering level 2
- Electricity System Technology Engineering 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 levels 3 and 4
– 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: 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.

• Water:
– Network Construction Operations (Water) level 1
– Distribution Control level 2
– Leakage Detection level 2
– Network Construction Operations: Mainlaying (Water) level 2
– Network Construction Operations: Service laying (Water) level 2
– Operating Process Plant: Sludge level 2
– Operating Process Plant: Waste Water level 2
– Operating Process Plant: Water level 2
– Leakage Control level 3
– Maintain Water Supply (Network) level 3
– Network Construction Operations (Water) level 3.

Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies Alliance (SEMTA) is the sector skills council 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 Gas Safe Register. People with experience in the gas industry or related fields may be able to follow the Nationally Accredited Certification Scheme (ACS) route to registration. This will allow them to gain certificates of competence that are accepted by the Gas Safe Register. People with no industry experience may need to follow a more formal qualification: Scottish/National Vocational Qualification (S/NVQ) in Gas Installation and Maintenance at level 2 or 3. Anyone formerly registered with CORGI, whose qualifications are more than five years old, is not currently able to register with the Gas Safe Register. They will need to retrain in the areas of gas work they intend to carry out, before registration.

Contact details

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

Gas Safe Register, PO Box 6804, Basingstoke RG24 4NB Tel: 0800 408 5500

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