Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 2ND - 8TH NOVEMBER 2018 | 15 This week Scot Power profits up, but customers leave Third-quarter profits cement recovery but firm has lost 100,000 gas and electricity customers Scottish Power has reported a rise in third-quarter profits aer its generation and supply busi- ness continued to rebound from a poor performance in 2017. The earnings boost came despite the company losing roughly 100,000 gas and electric- ity customers over the three months to the end of September. Profits were up at all three of its main divisions. Total earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisa- tions (Ebitda) grew by almost a quarter to £1,027 million. The biggest increase was at the generation and sup- ply business, where profits more than quadrupled to £170 million. Over the nine months to the end of September, elec- tricity consumption was up 2.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2017, and gas consumption was up 1.8 per cent. The supplier ended the third quarter with roughly 4.9 million customers. Meanwhile, Scottish Power Renewables has reported a 19 per cent increase in Ebitda to £266.7 million. Wind output swelled by 7 per cent to 3,153GWh aer the com- pletion last year of eight onshore windfarms in Scotland. At SP Energy Networks, there was a more modest 4 per cent rise in Ebitda to £591.1 million. Scottish Power chief executive Keith Anderson said: "The business is performing in line with expectations. We are delivering a smarter and more robust grid system to support renewable energy connections, and to ensure the network can meet the challenges associated with the expected increase in electric vehicles." TG ENERGY Robin Hood reveals 14.8% tariff hike Robin Hood Energy has announced a 14.8 per cent increase in its standard variable tariff for the average dual fuel customer. The hike, which will affect the 20 per cent of customers on the Evergreen tariff, represents £155 on the typical annual energy bill. The not-for-profit supplier blamed the increase on growing wholesale energy costs. "No company likes to put up prices," said Robin Hood Energy chair Steve Battlemuch. "But in the last year we've seen wholesale energy prices go up massively across the market." The supplier last raised its standard variable tariff – by 17 per cent – in April 2017. Robin Hood Energy was cre- ated by Nottingham City Council in 2015 in an effort to tackle fuel poverty among local residents. WATER Severn Trent plans service reservoir Severn Trent has announced it will build a 13 million-litre underground reservoir to supply customers in Nottinghamshire. The £5 million project is being built on land near Dia- mond Avenue in Kirkby-in-Ash- field and will replace a reservoir in the same area. It will serve more than 30,000 customers. Richard Evans, project man- ager, said: "As the local popula- tion continues to grow, we decided that now was the right time to upgrade the Diamond Avenue site to provide a far more resilient water supply that we can easily maintain." ENERGY £200m secured for gas and battery fleet Arlington Energy has secured £200 million to help fund its plans to build a 1GW fleet of distributed batteries and gas peaking plants over the next three years. The company is already installing 60MW and expects to have about 250MW up and run- ning by October 2019. The full portfolio will be made up of roughly one-third batteries and two-thirds gas reciprocating engines, with sites ranging in size from 5 to 50MW. The first tranche will consist of 100MW of batteries and at least 150MW of gas peaking plants that Arlington intends to enter into the next T-4 capacity market auction for delivery in 2022/23. The firm plans to operate the assets for the entire lifespans. Arlington Energy direc- tor Matt Clare said: "We are extremely pleased to be able to deploy so many assets in the UK to support the grid network." Anderson: networks performed as expected Finance & Investment Stock watch 1500 1000 500 0 YU GROUP SHARE PRICE, ONE MONTH Feb 2018 Jun 2018 Oct 2018 YU GROUP SHARE PRICE, ONE YEAR Yu Group shares have shed about four-fihs of their value aer the company issued a profit warning concerning its inability to recover unpaid bills from customers. The owner of business supplier Yu Energy expects profits to be £10 million lower than previous market expectations, resulting in a loss for the current financial year. Before the announcement, Yu Group shares were trading at 580p. At the time of writing, they were selling for 135p. 1000 800 600 400 200 0 2 Oct 5 Oct 12 Oct 19 Oct 26 Oct pence pence

• Cover