ScottishPower
This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. (August 2017) |
Parent Iberdrola | | |
Website | scottishpower |
---|
Scottish Power Limited,
.ScottishPower is the distribution network operator for Central and Southern Scotland, Merseyside, North Wales and parts of Cheshire and Shropshire.[2] It is also the transmission owner for the south of Scotland.[3] The company also supplies electricity and gas to homes and businesses around the United Kingdom and generates power for supply to the grid. It owned PPM Energy in the United States which has now been folded into Avangrid.
History
Foundation
ScottishPower was formed in 1990, in preparation for the
MANWEB and Southern Water
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
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
Thus
ScottishPower established the telecommunications company, Thus (originally known as Scottish Telecom)[8] and then floated it on the London Stock Exchange in 2002.[9]
PacifiCorp
In 2000, ScottishPower completed the acquisition of
Rejected takeover bid from E.ON
Following the announcement, the group's share price rose but was now widely seen as vulnerable to a takeover. It was soon revealed that the German energy group
Takeover bid from Iberdrola
On 28 November 2006, the board of directors of ScottishPower agreed to an £11.6 billion takeover bid by the Spanish energy firm
Extra Energy SoLR Appointment
On 24 November 2018, the British government's energy regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) appointed ScottishPower as Supplier of Last Resort for the failed domestic and business supplier Extra Energy. ScottishPower acquired all of Extra Energy's 108,000 domestic customers and 21,000 business customers.[14]
Tonik Energy SoLR Appointment
On Friday 9 October 2020, Ofgem appointed ScottishPower as Supplier of Last Resort for the failed domestic supplier Tonik Energy. Scottish Power acquired all of Tonik Energy's 130,000 customers.[15]
Yorkshire Energy SoLR Appointment
On Friday 5 December 2020, Ofgem appointed ScottishPower as Supplier of Last Resort for the failed domestic supplier Yorkshire Energy (also known as Daisy Energy). ScottishPower acquired all 74,000 domestic customers and a small number of non-domestic customers.[16]
Regulatory investigations, harassment, poor customer service, and complaints
In April 2007, the energy regulator Ofgem urged customers of ScottishPower and EDF Energy to switch to a cheaper provider after the firms refused to cut prices in line with the rest of the industry.[17]
In April 2008, Ofgem launched an investigation into allegations that ScottishPower abused their dominant market position relating to the electricity transmission network they own jointly in Scotland.
In November 2012, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) publicly listed ScottishPower as one of a number of companies that it had concerns about due to unsolicited telephone calls for marketing. The concerns were based on complaints. In response, ScottishPower said that it was working with the ICO to address any issues.[21]
In early 2015, ScottishPower was temporarily banned from signing up new customers, due to long-standing and serious concerns regarding poor customer service, overdue bills and failure to implement rulings made by the Energy Ombudsman.[22] The company's failings continued to be highlighted in the press later in the year, with complaints levels 20 times those of their best-performing competitor[23]
In April 2016, ScottishPower released a press release that an £18M agreement had been reached with Ofgem following their investigation into customer service standards.[24]
In 2017, ScottishPower created controversy when they pursued a couple for a £4,300 debt despite the couple not owing ScottishPower any money and, moreover, not being customers of the firm. ScottishPower ignored letters from the couple, instead sending bailiffs to the home of the couple. It later transpired that the couple were in no debt to ScottishPower.[25]
In 2020, The Observer gave ScottishPower an award for the year's "worst customer service" for "its singular pursuit of revenue", including sending bills, debt collectors' letters and the threat of bailiffs to people who did not use its services, then refusing to register their complaints.[26]
In January 2021, the Consumers' Association Which? magazine ranked ScottishPower the worst-performing supplier for customer service and the second worst supplier overall in their annual review of energy suppliers.[27]
Operations
Energy Retail
The Energy Retail division contains ScottishPower Energy Retail Ltd which holds the gas and electricity supply licences.
At the end of September 2023, this division held an 8.7% share of the domestic electricity supply market[28] and 7.5% share of the domestic gas supply market.[28] This is the lowest market share held by the company since 2004.
Also included in this division is SP Dataserve Ltd which provides a range of metering services including data collection, analysis and revenue protection.[29]
Energy Networks
The Energy Networks business contains three asset owning companies SP Transmission Ltd – holds the transmission licence 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 operation of the transmission grid is carried out by National Grid plc.
Energy Wholesale
Energy Wholesale contained two companies ScottishPower Generation Ltd which formerly generated 6,200MW of electricity power in the United Kingdom using coal-fired
In 2005, the
In 2007, the WWF named ScottishPower's Longannet power station as the UK's least carbon-efficient power station out of Europe's top 30 worst polluting power stations in absolute terms.[31] It ceased operation in 2016.[32]
Station name | Generation capacity | Installation | Fuel |
---|---|---|---|
Whitelee Wind Farm | 322 MW | 140 Siemens wind turbines | Wind |
Black Law Wind Farm | 124 MW | 54 Siemens wind turbines | Wind |
PPM Energy
PPM Energy Inc was previously the competitive arm of
See also
- Energy policy of Scotland
- Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
- Green electricity in the United Kingdom
References
- ^ a b "SCOTTISH POWER LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- ^ "Contact Us – SP Energy Networks".
- ^ "Our Transmission Network".
- ^ A whole world sold on sell-offs Guardian, 22 November 2000
- ^ Manweb confirms bid talks Independent, 26 September 1995
- ^ Scottish Water gets $2.35bn offer New York Times, 29 May 1996
- ^ Scottish Power to sell water firm for £2bn BBC News, 8 March 2002
- ^ Thus: About us
- ^ And thus the demerger finally canme to pass Independent, 20 December 2001
- ^ Scottish utility bids for PacificCorp Chicago Sun-Times, 8 December 1998
- ^ Berkshire Unit to acquire PacificCorp for $5.1bn Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Wall Street Journal, 24 May 2005
- ^ Scottish Power rejects bid move BBC News, 22 November 2005
- ^ Iberdrola to buy Scottish Power for £11.6bn International Herald Tribune, 28 November 2006
- ^ "Ofgem appoints Scottish Power to take on customers of Extra Energy".
- ^ "Scottish Power to supply Tonik Energy customers – Ofgem". Reuters. 9 October 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
- ^ "Ofgem appoints Scottish Power to take on customers of Yorkshire Energy".
- ^ Ofgem slams EDF and Scottish Power. Times Online. 24 April 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2009.
- ^ Ofgem inquiry into dominance of Scottish grid. The Guardian. 9 April 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2009.
- ^ Scottish Power to be investigated by Ofgem Archived 4 August 2012 at archive.today. LDP Business. 8 April 2009. Retrieved 4 June 2009.
- ^ Ofgem wants more power to punish market abuse. Reuters. 30 March 2009. Retrieved 4 June 2009.
- ^ Core, Kevin (16 November 2012), Commissioner names firms over 'nuisance' marketing calls, BBC News, retrieved 8 February 2013
- ^ "Scottish Power hit with 12-day sales ban by Ofgem". BBC News. 4 March 2015.
- ^ Shaw, Vicky (28 September 2015). "ScottishPower finish bottom of customer service league table with 20 times more complaints than top-ranked supplier".
- ^ "ScottishPower to pay £18m for customer service failings". 26 April 2016.
- ^ "Firm chases wrong couple for £4k debt". BBC News. 17 March 2017.
- ^ Tims, Anna (27 December 2020). "In the year of Covid, the awards for worst customer service go to..." The Observer. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
- ^ Williams, Martin (25 January 2021). "ScottishPower, SSE, Scottish Gas, Outfox & Octopus: Best and worst energy firms for customer satisfaction". The Herald. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
- ^ a b "Retail market indicators". Ofgem. September 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ "SP Dataserve Ltd". Association of Meter Operators.
- ^ "Hazelwood tops international list of dirty power stations -- WWF-Australia". Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
- ^ "Dirty Thirty – Ranking of the most polluting power stations in Europe" (PDF). WWF. May 2007.
- ^ "Longannet power station chimney blown up". BBC News. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2023.