National Grid profit jumps by a fifth despite record investment May 15, 2025 National Grid’s annual profits rose by a fifth as it lauded stable growth against a backdrop of “international economic uncertainty.” On an underlying basis, pre-tax profit increased 20 per cent to £3.7bn over the 12 months ended 31 March. Earnings per share rose two per cent to 73.3p, ahead of previous guidance. National Grid announced [...]
Bosses insist bonuses are justified for running ‘hair raising’ Thames Water May 13, 2025 Bosses at Thames Water have defended taking hefty bonus payouts as Thames Water battles to stay afloat and pollution incidents soar. Chief executive Chris Weston and Chair Sir Adrian Montague are spearheading a turnaround at the crisis-hit utility, which narrowly avoided bankruptcy earlier this year via a £3bn emergency loan from creditors. It was revealed [...]
Octopus and Utility Warehouse: suppliers to pay £7m after Ofgem price cap breach May 9, 2025 Octopus Energy and Utility Warehouse are among ten UK energy suppliers ordered to refund and compensate over 34,000 customers after an Ofgem investigation uncovered systemic overcharging linked to technical billing errors. The total payout of 7m – comprising £5.6m in direct refunds and nearly £1.4m in goodwill payments – follows a compliance review by the [...]
AWS pushes UK chip plans amid AI energy crunch May 8, 2025 Amazon Web Services (AWS) has defended the environmental and economic rationale behind its push into custom silicon and AI infrastructure, amid increasing scrutiny over the carbon footprint and power demands of hyperscale cloud providers. Speaking at the AWS summit in London, Dave Brown, vice president of compute and networking at AWS, highlighted the firm’s investment [...]
Centrica: FTSE 100 British Gas owner suffers huge backlash over CEO pay rise plans May 8, 2025 Centrica, the FTSE 100 parent company of British Gas, has suffered a huge backlash to plans to hand its chief executive a hefty pay rise. City AM reported in March that the CEO took home £4.3m for Centrica’s latest financial period, down from the £8.2m he received in the prior year. Chris O’Shea, who has been [...]
Centrica: ‘Challenging market conditions’ hit FTSE 100 energy firm May 8, 2025 Centrica has said it expects higher losses at its subsidiary, the UK’s largest gas storage site in the North Sea, known as Rough. The owner of British Gas on Thursday reaffirmed full-year profit guidance and plans to hike dividends despite “challenging market conditions” in its gas and power segment. Annual dividends are set it rise [...]
Ørsted’s cancelled offshore wind project puts net zero mission at risk, says Shadow Energy Secretary May 7, 2025 There are growing doubts over the government’s ability to meet its net zero targets after the company behind one of Britain’s biggest-ever wind farms abruptly pulled the plug on the project, citing overwhelming cost pressures. Denmark-based Ørsted, which won the contract to develop the 2.4GW Hornsea 4 offshore windfarm last year, said it took the [...]
Harbour Energy to axe 250 jobs as it slams Rachel Reeves May 7, 2025 Harbour Energy has slammed the government’s “punitive fiscal position” as it announced plans to cut 250 jobs in Aberdeen. The London-listed company, which is the largest oil and gas producer in the North Sea, blamed the Energy Profits Levy and a challenging regulatory environment for the decision. It also noted delays in the ramp-up of [...]
Solar panels must be fitted on all new homes from 2027 in net zero push May 1, 2025 New rules will mandate that housebuilders fit solar panels on the roofs of almost every new-build home from 2027, in a move slammed as an “ideological crusade”. According to a report in The Times, the policy change would add around £3,300 to the cost of building a semi-detached or terraced house, with a £4,000 premium [...]
Tony Blair calls for Net Zero ‘reset’ in break with Miliband April 30, 2025 Sir Tony Blair has called for a reset of “irrational” Net Zero plans, with an extended critique of the current state of the climate debate that has been seen as a direct rebuke to the energy secretary Ed Miliband. Blair, the last Labour leader to win an election before Sir Keir Starmer, cautioned in a [...]