RWE recorded a surge in profits following a tax refund from the German government, with the German utility confirming its full-year earnings would be at the upper end of its forecast range. Shares in RWE rose 3 per cent after the company posted half-year net income of 2.7bn euros up from 457m last year, after receiving a refund of about 1.7bn euros from Berlin. Adjusted net income – which does not include the refund – totalled 809m, a 35 per cent rise on 2016.
FT 14th Aug 2017 read more »
Royal Dutch Shell’s decision to sell electricity direct to industrial customers is an intelligent and creative one. The shift is strategic and demonstrates that oil and gas majors are capable of adapting to a new world as the transition to a lower carbon economy develops. For those already in the business of providing electricity it represents a dangerous competitive threat. For the other oil majors it poses a direct challenge on whether they are really thinking about the future sufficiently strategically. Three key reasons: First, the state of the energy market. The price of gas in particular has fallen across the world over the last three years to the point where the International Energy Agency describes the current situation as a “glut”. Second, there is the transition to a lower carbon world. No one knows how fast this will move, but one thing is certain: electricity will be at the heart of the shift with power demand increasing in transportation, industry and the services sector as oil and coal are displaced. The third key factor is that the electricity market is not homogenous. The business of supplying power can be segmented. The retail market – supplying millions of households – may be under constant scrutiny with suppliers vilified by the press and governments forced to threaten price caps but supplying power to industrial users is more stable and predictable, and done largely out of the public eye. The main industrial and commercial users are major companies well able to negotiate long-term deals. Given its scale and reputation, Shell is likely to be a supplier of choice for industrial and commercial consumers and potentially capable of shaping prices. This is where the prospect of a powerful new competitor becomes another threat to utilities and retailers whose business models are already under pressure.
FT 14th Aug 2017 read more »
The UK’s increasingly competitive energy market will become a little more crowded later this year with the arrival of Ireland’s state energy provider. ESB, the state-backed supplier for most of Ireland’s homes, is poised to enter the British market within months to battle more than 50 rival suppliers now vying for customer accounts. The Irish incumbent already has an established presence in the UK power generation sector but hopes to establish a more competitive presence through a retail arm. ESB is responsible for one of the few new gas-fired power plants to be built in recent years. The 884MW Carrington plant outside Manchester began generating power last year and ESB also runs the 350MW Corby power plant in Northamptonshire, as well as a wind farm in England and one in Wales.
Telegraph 14th Aug 2017 read more »
Good Energy has today formally urged shareholders to reject an attempt by rival green energy retailer Ecotricity to win two seats on Good Energy’s board, as the war of words between the two companies escalates. Shareholders will meet in Chippenham, Wiltshire, on September 6 to decide whether executives from arch-rival Ecotricity should be granted a presence on Good Energy’s board, Good Energy announced today.
Business Green 14th Aug 2017 read more »