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…

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…

Trading of shares in third party intermediary Utilitywise has been temporarily suspended after the firm confirmed it would not be able to publish its financial results by 31 January. The company trades on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Under market rules, it had to post financials for the year to July 17 by 31 January Read more…

To take the sting out of energy procurement, energy buying software needs to put an emphasis on providing managers with relevant data at the right time. Open Energy Market’s CEO Chris Maclean explains why in this sponsored post. At the start of a new year, high streets are packed with bargain hunters, certain that the Read more…

DCC is to acquire Countrywide Farmers’ liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distribution business in Britain for £28.75m. The firm supplies bulk and cylinder LPG to agricultural, commercial and domestic customers, selling some 20,000 tonnes of LPG annually. Completion of the deal is expected in the first quarter of this year.  DCC is a FTSE 100 listed firm Read more…

Franck Latrémolière thinks Amazon would make a decent fist of energy supply at scale and might become the catalyst for wholesale systemic change. Combining Npower with the residential supply business of SSE will create a business which will have lots of customers, including many apathetic (also known as profitable) ones, but no particular competitive advantage. This Read more…

Electron’s strategy director, Jon Ferris, explodes some of the myths surrounding blockchain’s security, scalability and energy consumption. The increasing media coverage of bitcoin may lead to a wider and better understanding of blockchain in the long term, but in the short term has entrenched a number of myths about security, scalability and energy consumption. Bitcoin Read more…

Fossil giant Shell is to buy the UK’s largest independent energy supplier First Utility. The move, subject to regulatory approvals, represents a significant challenge to the established order. It is due to complete early next year. Shell confirmed it was entering the I&C supply market in August. Buying First Utility gives it around 825,000 household Read more…

Laura Bazeley, risk manager at Mitie Energy, gives a snapshot of key market, political and regulatory developments that will impact business energy bills and strategies over the year ahead. Commodity costs and wholesale prices Energy markets face significant uncertainty in the first quarter of 2018 as the UK faces its first winter without any flexible Read more…