British Energy
FRENCH energy firm EDF is expected to announce a 12.4bn takeover of British Energy, leading to concerns that its headquarters may be moved out of Scotland. Nuclear firm British Energy employs around 200 staff at its headquarters in East Kilbride, but Adam Ingram, MP for the area, is concerned about their future if the deal goes ahead.
Scotland on Sunday 27th July 2008 more >>
Centrica’s involvement with EDF’s bid for British Energy – when it finally goes through this week – should be excellent news for the UK on two fronts. First, it should help Centrica hedge its own power prices and therefore hold down electricity costs for its customers. Second, it will give the British company much-needed exposure to the nuclear industry, which is going to account for a huge chunk of the UK’s energy supplies in the next few decades. EDF’s chief executive, Vincent de Rivas, is expected to sign off on the deal to buy BE for £12bn at Thursday’s board meeting, ahead of Friday’s results. Once the deal has gone through, Centrica will pay about £3bn to become a minority shareholder with 25 per cent of a new company.
Independent on Sunday 27th July 2008 more >>
EDF’s planned takeover of British Energy risks creating serious problems over competition in the UK electricity market, its competitors and customers have warned.
FT 28th July 2008 more >>
In a move that could derail EDF’s expected £12.4bn bid for the nuclear power station operator, a report into energy markets by the Commons business select committee warned that Britain’s “diverse electricity generation portfolio … may be undermined by consolidation, such as a takeover of British Energy or Scottish Power”.
Guardian 28th July 2008 more >>
Times 28th July 2008 more >>
Ministers like to fulminate about the UK’s “buy now, pay later” culture. But when it comes to the sale of the state’s own assets, the government seems quite happy to take an IOU. Shareholders in British Energy, the nuclear power group 35 per cent-controlled by the government, look likely this week to be offered a share of the company’s future profits in a plan that should clear the way for it to be carved up between France’s EDF and Centrica of the UK. As a way of breaking a stalemate over price, solutions such as these can be pragmatic. Contingency terms function like a call option, allowing the buyer to commit some money up front and then wait and see what the outcome is. They also usually create incentives for managers to stay on and work hard after the acquisition.
FT 28th July 2008 more >>
French energy giant Electricitie de France (EdF) may take a stake in Centrica’s wind farms and other assets as part of a deal to bring the UK into its planned £11bn-plus takeover of nuclear generator British Energy (BE). Centrica, the UK’s biggest wind farm investor and owner of British Gas, is desperate for a slice of the BE takeover but wants to avoid spending £3bn in cash that would give it a seat at the table.
Telegraph 28th July 2008 more >>
Plutonium
Top-secret shipments of weapons-ready plutonium through British waters have been stopped, after their exposure by The Independent on Sunday. The Department for Transport (DfT) said last week that it had taken “regulatory action” to prohibit the shipments from Sellafield to Normandy on an unarmed old roll-on, roll-off ferry, with few safety or security features. The prohibition, the first of its kind, was imposed after complaints by the French nuclear safety authorities. The shipments – denounced by nuclear weapons experts as “madness” and “totally irresponsible” – were carrying hundreds of kilograms of plutonium-dioxide powder, described as the ideal material for terrorists seeking to create a nuclear explosion or make a dirty bomb. Only 10kg of the plutonium, experts claim, would be needed to make a terrorist atomic weapon.
Independent on Sunday 27th July 2008 more >>
Central and Eastern Europe.
A number of countries in central, eastern and southeastern Europe plan to build new nuclear power reactors or extend the life of existing ones to meet growing domestic demand and replace ageing power capacity.
Reuters 27th July 2008 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
Letter from various MPs: The revelation that a senior defence official has told the arms industry that the government plans to spend £3bn to replace the UK’s 160 nuclear warheads is truly deplorable (Report, July 25). If the government has reached even a preliminary view on the matter this should first be made known to parliament, and not to industrial interests.
Guardian 28th July 2008 more >>
Markets
Britain’s energy markets need a radical shake-up to tackle inefficiencies as homes and businesses brace themselves to pay significantly more for power in the future, MPs warn today. Consumers could be forced to pay more for their power than those in other countries, and if the discrepancies are not tackled it could hit the competitiveness of British manufacturing, the business and enterprise committee says in a report. As well as measures to increase the markets’ efficiency, the committee is demanding that government and energy companies change their approach to fuel poverty in the face of high and rising gas and electricity prices.
Guardian 28th July 2008 more >>
The Government is to consider implementing a windfall tax on energy companies after calls by MPs for “urgent” and “fundamental” reforms to cut fuel poverty.
Independent 28th July 2008 more >>
The market in gas and electricity is not functioning properly and the dominance of six energy companies may be stifling competition and pushing up prices, according to the report.
Telegraph 28th July 2008 more >>
Times 28th July 2008 more >>
