SSE boss sees pay double to £2.6m despite Ofgem penalty http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/sse-boss-sees-pay-double-to-2-6m-despite-ofgem-penalty/

The outgoing chief executive of one of the UK’s biggest energy firms, SSE, was paid more than £2.60 million last year.

Ian Marchant, received the huge salary despite the firm being given a record find of £10.5 million by the regulator Ofgem for lying to potential new customers over the savings they could make by selecting certain energy tariffs from SSE.

In the aftermath, Mr Marchant refused to resign and it emerged that he was in line for a £15 million payoff if he waited until the summer.

SSE’s annual report revealed that Mr Marchant received £1.45 million in 2011. This year he received a basic salary of £870,000, an increase of £30,000. He also received shares worth more than £1 million from SSE’s long-term bonus plan on top of a pension worth £680,000.

The details of the long-term share incentive bonus, which makes up most of the increase, is that Mr Marchant received 51 per cent of the maximum that could be received under the Performance Share Plan for 2010-13. The increase is explained by the fact there was no comparable payout for the period 2009 – 2012.

As a result of the Ofgem decision, SSE reduced the other part of the bonus scheme, the annual incentive payment, which would have meant that executives qualified for 68 per cent of the maximum that could have been achieved, down to a maximum of 38 per cent.

Ian Marchant waived that part of his pay, whilst his deputy and likely successor, Alistair Phillips-Davies saw his annual bonus rise from £136,000 in 2011 to £210,000 in 2012.

via SSE boss sees pay double to £2.6m despite Ofgem penalty.

SSE boss sees pay double to £2.6m despite Ofgem penalty

Cash draining away – how the water industry avoids tax http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/cash-draining-away-how-the-water-industry-avoids-tax/

When David Cameron chose to put global measures to halt cross-border tax avoidance at the top of tomorrow’s G8 agenda, instead of thinking just of Google and Starbucks he should perhaps have been concentrating on a scandal much nearer home – the peculiar game now being played by much of Britain’s largely foreign-owned water industry.

Two events last week lifted part of the veil on this lucrative racket. First was an extraordinary article in the business pages of The Daily Telegraph by Jonson Cox, chairman of Ofwat, the water-industry regulator, which recognised that the industry’s “excessive profits” and tax-avoidance schemes, with water charges rising by up to 11 per cent a year, were “morally questionable in a vital public service”. Then came the annual report of Thames, our largest water company, showing that, on profits of £550 million, it had paid no corporation tax at all, while giving its chief executive more than £1 million. Thames insists that its tax is only deferred, not avoided, because it invested £1billion on capital projects, although its critics point out that this did not include mending leaks, for which it has a notoriously poor record.

This is far from untypical of an industry now averaging profits of 30 per cent a year, and much of which in recent years has been bought up by an array of mysterious private owners registered in overseas tax havens. One firm, Northumbrian, for instance, is indirectly owned by a Chinese businessman said to be the ninth-richest person in the world, whose holding company is registered in Bermuda. Others are owned by financial interests based in Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and across the world. Four of their CEOs earn £1  million or more a year. Yet, despite their colossal profits, many firms contrive to pay little or no tax.

via Cash draining away – how the water industry avoids tax – Telegraph.

Cash draining away – how the water industry avoids tax

If Centrica is prepared to risk earthquakes in Blackpool, big oil will want a share of shale http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/if-centrica-is-prepared-to-risk-earthquakes-in-blackpool-big-oil-will-want-a-share-of-shale/

Expect to see more big names from the oil industry, such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Statoil, moving into the British shale sector now that one of their competitors – Centrica – has taken the plunge. The international companies have always taken a keen interest in the UK fracking scene, despite endless statements from their chief executives that there are better prospects in China and elsewhere.

There is some speculation this weekend that the reason Centrica paid a fairly toppy price for the stake in the Bowland Shale licence from Cuadrilla Resources was because it faced competition from Shell and others.

It is not so much the geological uncertainty that made big oil hesitate in the past, but the fear of reputational damage. And as one of the industry players told the Observer: “That all changes now because Centrica has elected to become the lightning rod for the industry.”

Indeed it will. Green groups opposed to fracking because of the chemicals used and because they believe more gas use means more carbon emissions have already condemned Centrica. A couple of small earthquakes in the Blackpool region that helped to trigger an 18-month drilling moratorium have heightened public concerns. Fracking remains banned in France, Bulgaria and some other countries.

In fact it was always likely that the British Gas parent group would be first out of the blocks, not least because it has the largest retail supply business in this country.

Equally, if anyone is going to have the inside track on what government is thinking about the future taxation structure planned for a shale gas regime, it is going to be homegrown Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, rather than say Peter Voser, the boss of Shell, who spends much more time in The Hague than London.

Laidlaw is constantly in and out of Whitehall. Until recently he was part of David Cameron’s Business Advisory Group, while Centrica, as one of the UK’s few, and by far the biggest, British-owned power suppliers, stands most to gain from changes in UK energy policy.

via If Centrica is prepared to risk earthquakes in Blackpool, big oil will want a share of shale | Business | The Observer.

If Centrica is prepared to risk earthquakes in Blackpool, big oil will want a share of shale

Britain 'should not rely on French for new nuclear power plants' http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/britain-should-not-rely-on-french-for-new-nuclear-power-plants/

Helmut Engelbrecht said that he was disappointed to see a country that had made a commitment to nuclear power in the 1950s fail to have developed a skilled industry of its own.

“It’s just unfortunate that countries who have had the best experience, like the UK, are relying on foreign technology,” said Mr Engelbrecht, a German national.

“I find that a pity. OK, in my country they have made a political decision not to pursue it. But Britain has had this good track record of safe and reliable operation. Why are they just giving in to American or French solutions instead of doing their own thing?”

Mr Engelbrecht, 60, said that when he first developed his own interest in technology and science, “nuclear was the place to go”. But “despite doing an excellent job in winning public opinion round”, Britain now found itself reliant on the likes of France’s EDF to build the next generation of nuclear plants.

Plans for the £14bn Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset, the first reactor for a generation, remain in doubt. EDF and the Government are deadlocked in negotiations over the “strike price” – the amount that consumers will pay for electricity from the plant for up to 40 years.

via Britain ‘should not rely on French for new nuclear power plants’ – Telegraph.

Britain 'should not rely on French for new nuclear power plants'

UK Energy Broker Utilitywise's £15.5m Acquisition http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/uk-energy-broker-utilitywises-15-5m-acquisition/

Tyneside energy broker Utilitywise is expanding its expertise after a £15.5m acquisition of the Energy Information Centre (EIC).

Utilitywise, a rapidly-growing company based in South Shields, helps some 15,000 customers reduce their electricity, gas and water bills, and largely deals with small and medium enterprises, while Redditch-based EIC are well-established within the larger, industrial and commercial enterprise markets.

The resulting deal creates one of the largest energy procurement and energy consultancy firms in the UK, widening buying options for clients the firm’s product offering.

Announcing the acquisition on the London Stock Exchange, the company said the transaction will be made up of £10.5m in cash and a placing of £5m in new Utilitywise shares.

Utilitywise will also repay EIC’s existing mortgage debt of £1.94m.

And it has also placed a further £17.2m of shares to satisfy market demand.

This latest deal means the company, which first floated on AIM last June, now employs around 600 staff and will see revenues greatly increase.

In April the firm saw sales reach £10.2m in six months to the end of January, up from £7.3m in the last half of 2012m; pre-tax profits of £2.1m were also reported, amid heavy investment in new premises, energy consumption management products, services and staff.

via Energy consultant Utilitywise’s £15.5m acquisition – Business News – News – nebusiness.co.uk.

UK Energy Broker Utilitywise's £15.5m Acquisition

Shale gas key to lowering household energy bills after Centrica invests £160million into fracking firm Cuadrilla http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/shale-gas-key-to-lowering-household-energy-bills-after-centrica-invests-160million-into-fracking-firm-cuadrilla/

Shale gas bosses insisted the energy source could bring down household power bills, after Cuadrilla secured an investment of up to £160million from British Gas owner Centrica.

Cuadrilla has come under fire after a public relations man acting for the firm told Greenpeace that the impact of shale on prices would be ‘basically insignificant’.

But chief executive Francis Egan said that while gas prices might not drop sharply – as they have in the US following its ‘shale revolution’ – ordinary people would still benefit.

via Shale gas ¿key to lowering household energy bills¿ after Centrica invests £160million into fracking firm Cuadrilla | This is Money.

Shale gas key to lowering household energy bills after Centrica invests £160million into fracking firm Cuadrilla

Britain trying to boost offshore wind power investment http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/britain-trying-to-boost-offshore-wind-power-investment/

Britain this week announced the start of an offshore wind investment plan at a time when some are questioning its commitment to developing the industry.

British Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon, speaking at a wind industry conference Wednesday in Manchester, England, unveiled the creation of an Offshore Wind Investment Organization to “further stimulate jobs” in the industry.

“Offshore wind is a major success story for the U.K., and we want to boost levels of inward investment,” he said. “This will be an important part of our industrial strategy for the sector later this year, and we are creating the Offshore Wind Investment Organization to drive that activity.”

Touting Britain’s record of 3.3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy installed — more than the rest of the world put together — Fallon predicted the new industry-led partnership would help further “boost the positive benefits that the offshore wind sector can bring to the U.K. economy.”

The government, partnering with the wind industry, is developing an offshore wind industrial strategy to be published this year, meant to help reach Britain’s potential for 18 gigawatts of offshore wind installed by 2020.

Fallon says the aim is to provide a long-term vision to “help bring companies to the U.K., build the competitiveness of the U.K. supply chain, create jobs, improve skills and boost the economy, as well as delivering a vital contribution to our energy mix.”

But it is also coming at a time when the British coalition government and the House of Commons have rejected the idea of setting binding targets for wind and solar power installations for 2030, as sought by the European Union under its long-term decarbonization goals.

Instead, they have opted for a “technology neutral” CO2 reduction goal that embraces an expansion of nuclear power, gas-fired power plants and the development of shale gas — bringing warnings that without firm targets for renewables, investors in the industry will shy away from Britain.

For instance, wind turbine manufacturers such as General Electric and Vestas are holding off on making commitments to Britain until they are more certain of the government’s policy. GE UK had floated plans for a $157 million plant in Britain.

Simultaneous with Fallon’s announcement, the British trade group RenewableUK released a report claiming that unless government and industry coordinate their efforts to lure wind power investment, the country will let a “once-in-a-generation” manufacturing opportunity slip away.

via Britain trying to boost offshore wind power investment – UPI.com.

Britain trying to boost offshore wind power investment