E.ON Energy UK

E.ON UK is a British energy company. It is a subsidiary of E.ON. E.ON UK is the second largest electricity and gas supplier in the UK and one of the Big Six energy suppliers. It was founded in 1989 as Powergen, and was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has been a subsidiary of E.ON since 1 July 2002.[3]

E.ON UK plc
Public limited company
IndustryEnergy
Founded1989 (as Powergen)
HeadquartersCoventry, England, United Kingdom
Key people
Mike Lewis, CEO
ProductsResidential and business electricity and gas supply
Revenue£5.8bn (2017)[1]
£255.6m (2017)[1]
Number of employees
9,400 (2018)[2]
ParentE.ON
Websitewww.eonenergy.com

E.ON, was formerly a vertically integrated utility company with interests in electrical generation, electricity distribution in the Midlands region, and in the electricity and gas supply markets. It took a pioneering role in the development of large scale renewables including the construction and operation of the UK's first offshore wind farm at Blyth in Northumberland.[4] It became one of the first in the world, and the first major UK energy company, to significantly[5] alter its structure by spinning off its fossil generation business so it could focus on energy supply, grid development and renewables.

History

Powergen was formed in 1989 as a Public Limited Company which was wholly owned by the UK government and acquired about 50% of the Central Electricity Generating Board generating capacity. Sir Robert Malpas was Chairman of the Group from 1989 to 1991.[6] Sixty per cent of Powergen was sold to private investors in 1991, followed by the remaining 40% in March 1995.[7] It expanded considerably by acquiring the regional electricity company East Midlands Electricity in 1998[8] and the supply business of TXU Energi in 2002.[9] Powergen was eventually taken over itself by E.ON, an acquisition which was completed in January 2002.[10]

It then bought the distribution network operator Midlands Electricity in 2004.[11] This was merged with the distribution business of East Midlands Electricity and rebranded as Central Networks.[12] The Industrial & Commercial Retail business was rebranded as E.ON UK on 5 July 2004.[13] The creation of the Central Networks business in April 2004 included "a company of E.ON" as part of its logotype. In October 2005 it was also added to the Powergen logotype.

In June 2007, a major advertising campaign entitled "The wind of change", containing advertisements using the E.ON logo, was launched. The campaign featured the Robin Rigg offshore wind farm in the Solway Firth, currently in development. In the consumer market, this was complemented by a replacement of the mostly blue Powergen identity to the red identity of E.ON, and the launch of a new product, Go Green, using electricity from renewable sources and carbon offset gas.

On 22 October 2007, the company announced that the E.ON Energy and Powergen brands would change to E.ON as of 1 November and 3 December 2007 respectively.[14]

In January 2008, E.ON acquired West Midlands-based CHN Group, a provider of heating services to builders, local authorities and housing associations across the region.[15] and in August 2008 completed the purchase of the Street Lighting business lighting projects of ABB Ltd. It intended to improve its existing lighting business by purchasing the ABB business.ABB.[16]

In 2008 and 2009 a number of protests took place at E.ON UK's power station including a Climate Camp at their Kingsnorth power station in August 2008[17] and at their Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in October 2009.

Restructuring

On 20 January 2010, E.ON UK announced the closure of its Rayleigh Customer Service Centre and the loss of 600 jobs.[18] The company was forced to bring forward the announcement by one day after the information was leaked to a local newspaper. This has been criticised as a money-saving exercise by an organisation which has seen an increase in profits of 18% in 2009[19] and news that E.ON UK have made £80 million in profits so far in the financial year 2009/10. Other businesses within E.ON were also affected by these round of job losses, including its IT support and its Highways Lighting operations.

In March 2011, E.ON sold Central Networks to PPL's UK subsidiary Western Power Distribution for £3.5 billion.[20]

In October 2012, E.ON sold its 50% stake in Horizon Nuclear Power to Hitachi for £348 million. The other 50% stake, held by RWE npower, was also sold to Hitachi for the same amount, giving a total sale value of £696 million.[21]

Late in 2012, E.ON UK announced the closure of the 'Ignite' business, originally tasked with bringing alternative localised-generation products to market for E.ON UK.

In 2013, E.ON Home Energy Services was sold in a management buyout.[22]

Acquisition of npower

Just after the failed SSE-npower merger of retail assets in late 2018,[23] it was reported that the Big Six energy suppliers would still consolidate to the Big Five, as npower would be acquired by default by E.on UK, due to the already-planned asset swap of the respective German parents innogy and E.ON. [24]

Operations

The company's headquarters are in Coventry at Westwood Business Park, in a building designed by Bennetts Associates. There are numerous other offices and power generation sites across the country.

UK businesses

E.ON UK's businesses consist of:

  • Energy Solutions (a merger of the former Retail and Energy Services businesses)
  • Business Services (an internal service provider)
  • Central functions including Corporate Affairs & Finance under the banner UK Centre
  • E.ON Climate and Renewables – renewables and climate protection projects
  • E.ON IT UK – the company's IT service provider

Generation

E.ON operates a number of onshore and offshore wind farms, biomass power stations, Combined Heat and Power plants in the UK.[25] It formerly ran[26] a number of fossil plants which are now wholly owned and run by Uniper.

Sponsorship
ITV National Weather

Powergen/E.ON sponsored the ITV National Weather forecasts from its launch on 13 February 1989 until 31 December 2007, a period of 18 years. They were known for their memorable sponsorship sequences from a set introduced on 5 April 1993 which featured weather themes circulating around (or parts of) the Powergen logo, and from 20 November 1996, the Weathergens, a "mascot" of Powergen representing different types of weather. After several different sets of idents throughout the 2000s, Powergen eventually became E.ON in 2007 and the sponsorship was changed to accommodate the name change. The sponsorship ended on 31 December 2007 and from 4 July 2016 to 8 July 2018, ITV National Weather is formerly sponsored by rival energy company SSE on all ITV plc stations and UTV.

Sport

In 2006, E.ON UK announced that it was to be the sponsor of the FA Cup for a four-year period. During this period, the competition is formally called "The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON". Before 2006, the company had sponsored the rugby union and rugby league cup competitions under the Powergen brand. The original four-year deal was extended to a fifth year as The FA failed to secure a new sponsor. The announcement was unpopular as it was made in the same week as the confirmation of closure of the Rayleigh Call Centre.

The company was the energy partner of the Football League, and sponsors the E.ON Lounge at the Ricoh Arena, the home of Coventry City F.C. Football Club.

In other sports, E.ON UK sponsored the Tour of Britain cycling championship from 2007 to 2009, and in 2007 launched a campaign with Ellen MacArthur to encourage energy efficiency within businesses.

Distribution network operators

E.ON UK is an energy supplier for homes across the country. They do not however manage the network of towers and cables that distributes electricity – these are maintained by distribution network operators (DNOs) which vary from region to region. If, for instance, there is a power outage it is necessary to contact the appropriate DNO rather than the energy supplier. See entry on distribution network operator for a full list.[27]

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See also

References
  1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 December 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "At a glance | Our company – E.ON".
  3. E.ON completes Its acquisition of Powergen Archived 25 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Graham, August (13 March 2019). "Eon calls time on the UK's first ever wind farm". www.cityam.com. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  5. "German utility E.ON to split to focus on renewables, grids". Reuters. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  6. 'MALPAS, Sir Robert', in Who's Who 2012 (London: A. & C. Black, 2012)
  7. "More power to the people".
  8. Powergen buys East Midlands
  9. Powergen buys TXU's British arm
  10. "E.ON to buy Powergen".
  11. Powergen to buy Midlands Electricity
  12. "Powergen axe". The Daily Telegraph. London. 20 February 2004. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  13. "UK mass market energy retail review 2004" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2010.
  14. "E.ON UK Press Releases, Powergen is changing to E.ON..." E.ON. Archived from the original on 2 March 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2007.
  15. E.ON buys CHN
  16. Wragge & Co advises E.ON on street lighting deal Archived 3 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  17. Plans for Kingsnorth push ahead
  18. "600 jobs to go at Eon call centre in Rayleigh". Echo. 19 January 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  19. "E.On profits up despite weak UK". BBC News. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  20. "SPPL to acquire E.ON's UK grid networks for GBP3.5bn". Power-Gen Worldwide. PennWell Corporation. 2 March 2011. Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  21. "E.ON sells stake in Horizon Nuclear Power". E.ON. E.ON. 30 October 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  22. Toulson, Jemma (29 September 2015). "An energy firm with real people power". Nottingham Post. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  23. Vaughan, Adam (17 December 2018). "SSE and npower scrap merger plan amid 'challenging conditions'". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  24. Vaughan, Adam (28 December 2018). "Job fears for npower staff, with ownership transferring to E.ON". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  25. "Our locations | Our company – E.ON". www.eonenergy.com. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  26. Timperley, Jocelyn (4 January 2016). "E.ON completes split of fossil fuel and renewable operations". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  27. "The GB electricity distribution network". 18 June 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
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