Scottish Power came under fire yesterday after it announced a surge in profits on the back of increasing prices. The company, owned by the Spanish energy giant Iberdrola, said that profits in its energy supply division rose to £161.1 million in the three months to the end of September, up from £59.4 million in the same period last year. Scottish Power raised its prices by 5.5 per cent or £63 a year from the start of June, despite losing hundreds of thousands of customers over the past year. The company supplies gas and electricity to about five million homes and businesses in Britain. Almost a million households are on its standard variable tariff, which costs a typical £1,257 annually, ranking as the most expensive of the Big Six suppliers after two price rises this year. The profits do not include its latest price rise of 3.7 per cent or £46 a year, which came into effect this month. The company, formed in Glasgow in 1901, made operating profits last year of £653.8 million on revenues of more than £5.2 billion.
Times 25th Oct 2018 read more »
Herald 25th Oct 2018 read more »
Spanish utility Iberdrola said on Wednesday stronger operations in Brazil and in its renewable energy business helped deliver a 22.5 per cent rise in core earnings in the nine months to September. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was up from €5.4bn to €6.72bn in the period. The company confirmed its forecasts for the rest of the year. Net profit in the same period fell 13.5 per cent to €2.1bn, however, largely due to the comparison with last year, when the company saw a one-off dividend of €759m resulting from the merger of windpower business Gamesa with the wind division of Germany’s Siemens.
FT 24th Oct 2018 read more »