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UTILITY WEEK | 2ND - 8TH JUNE 2017 | 15 This week UU to put another £100m into AMP6 United Utilities' five-year capital expenditure plan given £100 million lift, taking it to £3.6 billion United Utilities has announced it will make £100 million available for investment over the remainder of its 2015- 20 asset management plan (AMP6), taking its five-year regulatory capex programme to approximately £3.6 billion. Chief executive Steve Mogford said UU's confidence in delivering net outperformance underpinned the further investment. "This will support our resilience projects, bringing additional customer benefits over the next three years," he said. The announcement came in the group's 2016/17 annual report, which attributed an underlying operating profit rise of 3 per cent to £622.9 million to revenue changes, a fall in infrastructure renewal expenditure and lower total costs offset by the accounting impact of its non-household retail joint venture, Water Plus. Reported operating profit was up 7 per cent to £605.5 million, mainly as a result of reduced profit last year due to costs associated with the water quality incident. UU improved its service incentive mechanism (SIM) score to 4.42 points in 2016/17, compared with 4.27 in 2015/16. Customer complaints fell 27 per cent compared with 2015/16, and there was a 55 per cent reduction in issues not resolved at first contact. The company has invested £45 million in solar in the first two years of the 2015-20 period. Mogford told Utility Week. It expects to invest more than £100 million in solar generation across the five-year period, "provided it can see the returns". LV ENERGY Energy firms invest billions in UK SMEs More than £5 billion has been invested in deals between large energy companies and British small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) over the past four years, according to a report. Law firm Bond Dickinson said the 179 deals struck between April 2013 and April 2017 were worth a total of £5.4 billion. Bond Dickinson's head of energy, Paul Stockley, said the figures highlighted the growing importance of SMEs in the energy sector. He added: "If you think about super-majors like Shell or some of the bigger utilities, they have a history in the way they have grown, and are unable to innovate or move as fast." "The oil price crash has meant that firms need to be looking at greater innovation and collaboration to drive down costs," Stockley said. WATER ST bags £47.6m in outcome incentives Severn Trent's annual report has revealed that the company earned £47.6 million in outcome delivery incentives in 2016/17, with chief executive Liv Garfield attributing about £10 million to benign weather. Group turnover was £1,819 million, up £66 million (3.7 per cent) on the previous year, while pre-tax profit was up £39 million (7.8 per cent) to £544 million. The company also reported a 17 per cent reduction in supply interruptions, a 2 per cent fall in leakage, and a 21 per cent reduction in sewer flooding. "We are improving our efficiency and have identified a further £100 million totex savings this regulatory period, taking total efficiencies to £770 million," Garfield told Utility Week. ENERGY US investment halts sale of Flow EnergyFlow Group has halted the sale of its supply arm, Flow Energy, aer a US investment firm offered to provide funding to help turn the business into a "viable challenger" to the major retailers. The group has unveiled plans to raise up to £29 million through loans and share sales as it seeks to quadruple the number of gas and electricity customers it supplies to more than one million. The move marks a major turnaround since Flow Group announced in February that it would "actively pursue" the sale of Flow Energy to focus on its proprietary domestic micro-com- bined heat and power boiler. UU is investing £100m in solar energy in AMP6 Stock watch 950 900 850 800 750 PENNON SHARE PRICE, FIVE DAY Jul 2016 Sep Nov Jan 2017 Mar PENNON SHARE PRICE, FULL YEAR Investors have reacted warmly to the latest financial results from Pennon Group aer the South West Water owner reported an 18 per cent rise in profit driven by increased demand and lower costs. The company's shares were being traded for 902p as the results were published last Wednesday and by end of the following day the price had risen nearly 5 per cent to 945p. At the time of publication, the price had dropped back slightly to 936p. 960 640 620 900 880 24 May 25 May 26 May 30 May Finance & Investment May