ScottishPower
| Company type | Public (LSE: SPW NYSE: SPI) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Energy |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Glasgow, Scotland |
Key people | Philip Bowman (CEO) |
| Products | Electricity and Gas |
| Revenue | GBP£6,849 million (Y.E. 31 Mar 05) |
Number of employees | 9,486 (2005) |
| Website | www.scottishpower.com |
ScottishPower Plc is a vertically integrated energy company headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the distribution network operator for the central and southern Scotland and the Merseyside and North Wales regions. The company also supplies electricity and gas to homes and business around the United Kingdom and generates power for supply to the grid. It also owns PPM Energy in the United States. ScottishPower is quoted on the London Stock Exchange as part of the FTSE 100 Index, and has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
History
ScottishPower was formed in 1990, in preparation for the privatisation of the previously state owned Scottish electricity industry the following year. Previously the UK government had privatised the English and Welsh electricity industry by splitting the market into 12 regional electricity companies (RECs) and two power generators. However in Scotland, the industry was already organised on an integrated generation, distribution and supply basis, and this integration survived the privatisation to become a model for the rest of the United Kingdom. ScottishPower was largely formed from of the larger of the two Scottish electricity boards, the South of Scotland Electricity Board, whilst the other, the North of Scotland Hydro Board, eventually became part of the Scottish and Southern Energy Group (the nuclear power stations in Scotland were spun off into a third company, ScottishNuclear, which was not sold off with ScottishPower and Scottish Hydro Electric, but was sold later as part of British Energy).
ScottishPower was the larger of the two Scottish energy companies and benefited from being both a generator and supplier of power. In 1995 it acquired the English Regional Electricity Company, Manweb which supplied Merseyside and North Wales. In 1996 the company diversified into the water supply business with the purchase of Southern Water (which was sold again in 2002). When the supply of energy into British homes was opened up to competition, ScottishPower entered this market, stealing share from the previous gas supply monopoly British Gas and also building new market share in England and Wales.
ScottishPower established the telecommunications company, Thus (originally known as ScottishTelecom). This was floated on the London Stock Exchange with ScottishPower retaining a 20% stake, until 2002 when it sold its interest.
In 2000, ScottishPower completed the acquisition of Pacificorp which supplies electricity in the western United States, which operates as Pacific Power (in the regulated energy industries of the states of Oregon, Wyoming, Washington, and California), and as Utah Power (in the regulated energy industries of the states of Idaho and Utah). In May 2005 ScottishPower announced that it had agreed to sell Pacificorp to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, a company controlled by Warren Buffet's company Berkshire Hathaway, for $5.1 billion in cash and $4.3 billion in debt and preferred stock. The successful completion of the deal was announced on 21 March 2006, after securing regulatory approvals. The deal did not include PPM Energy (which as Pacificorp Power Marketing was formerly the non-regulated subsidiary of Pacificorp). ScottishPower intends to return a large proportion of the proceeds to its shareholders.
Following the announcement, the group's share price rose, but were now widely seen as vulnerable to a takeover. It was soon revealed that German energy group E.ON, who also own Powergen, were interested in a takeover. On 2005-11-22 the board rejected an offer from E.ON of 570 pence a share, which would have valued the group at £10.7 billion. [1]
Divisons
Energy Retail
The Energy Retail division contains Scottish Power Energy Retail Ltd which holds the gas and electricity supply licenses and has over 5.2 million customers in the UK. Also included in this division is SP Dataserve Ltd which is responsible for the metering and data management work and is the first ever meter reading company to allow customers to text in their meter readings[2].
Energy Networks
The Energy Networks business contains three asset owning companies SP Transmission Ltd - holds the transmission license for central and southern Scotland and owns the part of the Moyle Interconnector with Northern Ireland Electricity, SP Distribution Ltd - holds the distribution licence for central and southern Scotland and SP Manweb Plc - holds the distribution licence for North Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire. A fourth asset management business SP Power Systems Ltd maintains and repairs the distribution networks on behalf of the owners and acts as the Distribution Network Operator. The work on the transmission grid is carried out by National Grid plc.
Energy Wholesale
Energy Wholesale contains two companies ScottishPower Generation Ltd which generates 6,200MW of electricity power in the United Kingdom using coal fired thermal power stations, combined cycle power stations, hydro-electric schemes, pumped storage generation and substantial wind farms.On 2006-04-27 Scottishpower were granted permission to build Europe's largest on-shore windfarm. The 322 MW / 140 turbine site will cost an estimated £300m and cover an area of approximately 55 km² of moorland south of Glasgow. Also within this divison is ScottishPower Energy Management Ltd which is responsible for buying and selling wholesale energy.
| Station Name | Generation Capacity |
|---|---|
| Longannet Power Station | 2,400 MW |
| Cockenzie Power Station | 1,200 MW |
| Rye House Power Station | 715 MW |
| Knapton Generating Station | 41 MW |
| Damhead Creek | 793 MW |
| Cruachan Power Station | 440 MW |
| Galloway Hydro Electric Scheme | 106.5 MW |
| Lanark Hydro Electric Scheme | 17 MW |
| Various Windfarms | 182.39 MW |
PPM Energy
PPM Energy Inc was previously the competitive arm Pacificorp but was made a seperate business in 2002. It is involved in renewable energy and gas storage amongst other things in the US.
Triva
The company also has it own pipe band that performs all over the world.