- RWE npower
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RWE Npower plc
(trading as npower)
Type Public limited company Industry Energy Founded 2000 (as Innogy plc) Headquarters Swindon, England, UK Key people Volker Beckers, CEO Products Gas and electricity Employees 11,501 Parent RWE Website www.npower.com RWE Npower plc (trading as npower) is a UK-based electricity and gas supply generation company, formerly known as Innogy plc. As Innogy plc it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 2002 it was acquired by RWE of Germany and was subsequently renamed RWE npower plc.
Contents
History
The Company was established as Innogy plc from the UK operations of National Power when the overseas operations were demerged as International Power plc in 2000.[1]
Innogy then went on to purchase the Regional Electricity Company Yorkshire Electricity in 2001.[2] It later disposed of the distribution side of Yorkshire Electricity to CE Electric UK in exchange for the supply business of Northern Electric.[3] Innogy was taken over by the German utility giant RWE in 2002 and renamed RWE Npower plc with all the supply business adopting the "Npower" brand.[4]
In February 2006 Npower acquired 19% of Telecom Plus, a business which now provides Npower with management services, such as billing, customer service, metering, debt collection and administration: under the deal Npower can increase its stake in Telecom Plus up to 29%.[5]
In 2008, npower faced allegations over the conduct of its door-to-door salespeople.[6] An undercover investigation by a UK newspaper resulted in allegations of npower salespeople misleading potential customers, with suggestions that salespeople were 'routinely lying' and asking potential customers to 'sign a form without revealing it was a contract'.[7] npower was eventually fined £1.8million by the UK energy regulator Ofgem.[8] Npower have also been criticised for their customer service, having been rated the lowest of all energy suppliers in the Which? Switch 2010 customer satisfaction survey.[9]
In 2010 npower acquired SPI Group to add to its energy services business npower hometeam. SPI provides services to the social housing market and its commercial arm serves public buildings, including schools.[10]
Operations
Npower operates a number of coal, natural gas, oil-fired and renewable energy power stations across the UK, with coal and gas accounting for 81% of their output as of 2005.[11]
Npower supplies gas and electricity to 6.5million residential and business customers in the UK. Its energy services business, npower hometeam, provides installation, servicing and repair of boilers and central heating systems. npower also supplies gas and electricity to customers of the Utility Warehouse Discount Club.
The company's main offices are in Swindon, Wiltshire with other offices in the Midlands, Yorkshire and North East. npower has around 12,000 employees across its departments and in 2010 made an operating result of £233 million.
The company also owns Aberthaw Power Station in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales, Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire, Tilbury Power Station in Essex, Little Barford Power Station near St Neots, Great Yarmouth Power Station, Fawley Power Station, Tilbury Power Station and Littlebrook Power Station near Dartford in Kent.
Npower supplies gas and electricity to customers of the Utility Warehouse Discount Club.
Carbon intensity of electricity production[12]
Year Production (TWh) Emission (Gt CO2) kg CO2/MWh 2002 35 21.5 623 2003 38 27.5 726 2004 34 23.1 681 2005 33 22.7 680 2006 37 24.7 677 2007 34 22 651 2008 38 25 665 2009 27 16.6 622 See also: List of European power companies by carbon intensitySee also
- Energy policy of the United Kingdom
- Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
- Green electricity in the United Kingdom
References
- ^ Plugging into Nat Power split The Telegraph, 21 March 2001
- ^ Npower firm buys up Yorkshire Electricity BBC News, 22 February 2001
- ^ Innogy, Northern in retail swap Power Engineering International, September 2001
- ^ RWE is set to buy Innogy New York Times, 18 March 2002
- ^ Big gas losses force Telecom Plus to sell Digital Look, 16 February 2006
- ^ Npower suspends staff over claims BBC, 6 April 2008
- ^ Exposed: energy giant cheats its customers The Times, 6 April 2008
- ^ Npower fined over doorstep sales BBC, 22 December 2008
- ^ Customer Satisfaction Survey Results Which
- ^ npower Acquires SPI Group Build, 4 February 2009
- ^ RWE Gestaltungselement "Quadrate" in Corporate Broschueren
- ^ Climate Change and Electricity
External links
Video clips
Electricity generation in South West England Power stations ClosedCarn Brea · Castle Meads · East Yelland · Exeter · Hayle · Newton Abbot · Plymouth · Poole · Portishead A + BActiveClosedPrincetownProposed/FutureClosedFutureActiveClosedProposed/FutureClosedActiveProposed/Future
Organisations Ecogen · Ecotricity · Geothermal Engineering Ltd. · Good Energy · Infralec · Marine Current Turbines · Mendip Power Group · npower · Nuclear Electric · Ovo Energy · Pre-nationalisation electric power companies · South Somerset Hydropower Group · SWEB Energy · Western Power Distribution · Wind ProspectUnited Kingdom power companies Big Six suppliers: Distribution companies: Northern Powergrid · SP Energy Networks · Electricity North West · EDF Energy Networks · Western Power Distribution · Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution · UK Power NetworksTransmission companies: Other suppliers: Categories:- RWE
- Power companies of the United Kingdom
- Wind power companies of the United Kingdom
- Natural gas companies of the United Kingdom
- Companies established in 2000
- Companies based in Swindon
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