Utility Week

4 | 15TH - 21ST NOVEMBER 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... Vattenfall ready to pull plug on Britain Sweden's state-owned power company is considering quitting the British household energy market aer only two-and-a-half years, describing it as a "mess". Vattenfall entered the market in June 2017 when it bought iSupply Energy, a Bournemouth-based business with 120,000 household customers. However, Magnus Hall, Vattenfall's chief executive, said the market had proved to be "very difficult" because of strong compe- tition and a government-imposed price cap. He said the utility was considering "how we deal with it" and that one option would be "to potentially divest". The Times Onshore wind farms under further scrutiny The energy minister is to launch a review into the impact wind farms have onshore amid claims the countryside is being "concreted over" with substations and cable corridors built as supporting infrastructure. Andrea Leadsom, secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, announced the review aer meeting a delegation of MPs from Suffolk and Norfolk. The Sunday Telegraph National Grid feels profits squeeze National Grid is set to reveal a dip in profits when it reports half-year results, as the threat of nationalisa- tion hangs over it. Analysts expect it to post under- lying pre-tax profit of £748 million for the six months to the end of September, against £816 million for the same period last year. The profit slide comes aer August's power cut, which knocked out 5 per cent of the country's power supply and caused black- outs. National Grid has a market valuation of £31 billion. Sunday Times In the media SSE acquisition will boost Ovo's decarbonisation push O vo Energy's planned acquisition of big six sup- plier SSE's retail arm is an "amazing opportunity" for the challenger brand's decarbonisa- tion ambitions, the company's retail chief executive has said, in his first interview following the announcement of the deal. Speaking exclusively to Utility Week at Ovo's Notting Hill offices last week, Adrian Letts spoke about the £500 million deal currently being assessed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Letts said he expected the timescale for the CMA's decision to extend into the new year. He said: "From our perspec- tive, the SSE deal, the opportu- nity, is amazing. We see huge amounts of alignment in terms of the customers' centricity and also the focus on sustainability. "SSE has won numerous awards for their customer service and I think that's hugely additive to us. Together we have an even bigger opportunity of really impacting carbon." The deal between Ovo and SSE would make Ovo the second-largest supplier, behind only Centrica-owned British Gas. SSE has 5.7 million energy customers, which would give Ovo a total customer base of 7 million if the deal goes through. Letts joined Ovo in January as its retail chief executive a˜er serving as the managing director of Tesco Online. He said there were certain similarities between the grocery sector and the energy sphere. He cited as an example a Tesco delivery driver and a smart meter engineer. "Tesco's slightly different, but for Ovo it's the one and only time where a customer will meet a colleague from Ovo. "I think people forget that that smart meter engineer is the manifestation of the company. That for me is incredibly exciting and incredibly powerful, it's humanising. "It's all very well to talk about digital engagement, but I think that starts with human engagement. We thought a lot about that at Tesco and I'm thinking a lot about it here at Ovo." AJ Utility Week will be publishing a full interview with Adrian Letts in a forthcoming issue. "We'll work with whichever organisation gets into government with a mandate to transform our energy system for the future" Michael Lewis, chief executive, Eon UK, welcomes the political focus on energy efficiency. (See Finance & Invesment news, 'Eon signs PPA with RWE', p15) STORY BY NUMBERS Public support for net zero Two sets of newly published research reiterate public support to move forward the net zero target, as well as their faith in renewables. 2% BEIS figures show that just 2 per cent of the public are stead- fastly opposed to renewable energy. 5% In 2012 the num- ber steadfastly opposed was 5%. 84% Percentage of public in favour of green energy, up from 80 per cent last year. 56% Number of those supporting reaching net zero before 2030, according to a YouGov poll. See Harris research, p6 Adrian Letts, retail chief executive, Ovo

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