Eon has awarded another CHP contract to Edina, which will supply and install a 2MWe gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant at Cranbrook Energy Centre, Devon, by the end of this year. The £20m energy centre currently uses a 550kWe CHP unit to supply heat and hot water to the mixed use development, and Read more…

Rolls Royce, the engines and power systems manufacturer, will cut 4,600 jobs over the next two years in a bid to save £400m per annum by 2020. The company said it aimed to create a leaner structure for its three business units. The restructure is expected to cost £500m. While issues with its Trent 1000 Read more…

Gordon Boyd will head up finance at the merged SSE and Npower energy retail outfit, if it is approved by SSE shareholders and cleared by the competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority is scutinising the deal, and along with regulator Ofgem, has raised concerns that it could reduce market competition. In a 47-page submission, Read more…

SSE is to build a new combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station in North Lincolnshire. The company says it will bid for a capacity market agreement for the proposed 840MW plant, which will be built next to the existing 740MW plant at Keadby. SSE intends to start work on Keadby 2 in the coming Read more…

Centrica has notched up a million connected homes customers, after adding 91,000 ‘smart homes’ to its books in the first four months of this year. Meanwhile, the firm expects to post 50% higher revenues from its distributed energy business versus 2017. In a trading update, the firm said the UK energy retail market remained tough, Read more…

Water Plus, the joint venture between water suppliers Severn Trent and United Utilities, has started selling energy as well as water to businesses. The company told The Energyst it is primarily targeting small firms, touting savings of ‘up to £400’ if companies buy all of their utilities through it. However, its website also states it Read more…

Plans by SSE and Innogy to merge their UK domestic retail businesses warrants further scrutiny, says the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The watchdog has concluded phase one of its investigation and is concerned that reducing the ‘big six’ to a ‘big five’ might harm price competition. “We know that competition in the energy market does Read more…

Total Gas & Power has hired former Npower sales, marketing and technical services director, Mark Rose, to head up its sales operation to large businesses. Rose becomes director, Major Business, effective this week. His remit includes responsibility for sales to industrial and commercial customers, and the public sector, either directly or via brokers. General manager, Sion Read more…

Utilitywise has posted heavy losses for the year to July 2017 after changing its accounting methodology and recalculating the value of its contracts. The firm’s shares, which had been suspended from the AIM due to repeated delays to its financial results, fell further when trading resumed, though had partially recovered by midday. The third party Read more…

Business energy and water supplier Yü Group reports that customer growth outpaced expectations during 2017 and anticipates more of the same for 2018 and 2019. The company posted pre-tax profit of £2.2m for the full year 2017 versus a loss of £1.5m in 2016. It reported adjusted operating profit of £3.1m. Yü said gross margins Read more…

Brokers still hold huge power in the business-to-business supply market. But some firms think they are too opaque and inefficient. They believe technology can disrupt the status quo. Brendan Coyne reports. Chris Bowden founded Squeaky Clean Energy to give mid-sized firms the power to strike deals direct with renewables generators in the same way large Read more…

Energy suppliers will not be able to back bill micro businesses for more than a year from November. Ofgem has introduced a licence condition that covers both gas and electricity. While some suppliers had already signed up to a voluntary arrangement, the licence condition formalises the requirement. Ofgem said it was needed because back billing Read more…

National Grid has issued a Gas Deficit Warning, an indication that demand is likely to outstrip supply. It is a signal to suppliers to make more gas available. The warning was issued this morning, and was followed by a request for locational gas supplies. According to National Grid, demand is running about a third higher than Read more…

Profits from energy sales to SMEs and corporates boosted Drax’s full year earnings. The company, which is transitioning from Europe’s largest coal-fired power plant to a biomass and gas generation and supply business, posted earnings before interest, taxes, deductions and amortisation (ebitda) of £229m, up 64%. However, it posted a statutory pre-tax loss of £183m. Read more…

Centrica is to undertake another major round of cost cutting, planning to take £500m out of the business each year from now to 2020. The firm targets savings of £1.25bn in total and said like for like headcount will decrease by 4,000. Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December show Centrica lost 10% of Read more…

Increasing market volatility in 2018 is compounded by rising policy costs and regulatory change. That presents greater risk but also significant opportunity for businesses that grasp it, say consultants and suppliers. Brendan Coyne reports Average wholesale power prices are predicted to decline steadily for the next five years, according to ratings agency Moody’s. In a Read more…

Energy buying platform Open Energy Market has secured £3m in funding from Calculus Capital to scale its operations and take the power away from brokers. The company will use the money to make platform improvements and expand into other commodities and the US market. The firm’s platform and ambition is to bring transparency to the Read more…

BES Utilities says it plans to sue Trading Standards, which raided its premises in 2016. The company will seek £8.6 million in damages against Cheshire West and Chester Trading Standards. BES Utilities recently took two individuals to court alleging they waged a campaign of misinformation about the company. BES claims this may have played a role in Read more…

Energy consultancy Energi Mine has raised $15m (£10.6m), with $4m coming in an hour and 21 minutes. The firm, which plans to use the money to develop an energy token and trading platform, used an initial coin offering (ICO) approach, a fund raising method popular with cryptocurrency developers. The firm raised $11m in a pre-ICO Read more…

SSE’s wind generation was 33% higher in the nine months to 31 December than the prior year. Some of the increase was down to new capacity coming on stream, but the firm also noted windier conditions. Wetter weather also increased hydro output, including pumped storage, by around 19%. In a trading update, the company indicated Read more…