Jump to content

Npower (United Kingdom)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromRWE npower)
"Innogy plc" redirects here. For the renewable energy subsidiary of E.ON, seeInnogy.

Npower Limited
FormerlyNational Power PLC
Innogy PLC
RWE Npower
Npower
Npower Business Solutions
Company typeLimited company
IndustryEnergy to Businesses
Founded2000 (as Innogy plc)
2002 (as RWE Npower)
2016 (as Npower Limited)
Defunct2021
FateMerged into E.ON Next
SuccessorE.ON Next
HeadquartersSwindon,England, United Kingdom
ProductsGas and electricity
Number of employees
5,700
ParentE.ON UK
Websitenpowerbusinesssolutions.com

Npower Limited[1]was a British supplier of gas and electricity to businesses. It has been a subsidiary ofE.ON UKsince January 2019. The company was formerly known as Innogy plc and was listed on theLondon Stock Exchangeand was a constituent of theFTSE 100 Index.

In March 2002, it was acquired byRWEof Germany, and was subsequently renamedRWE npower plc.RWE split off its renewable energy, network and retail divisions asInnogy SEin April 2016, and Npower transferred to the new business. It is considered one of theBig Six energy suppliers,which dominate the gas and electricity market in theUnited Kingdom.

E.ON transferred npower's residential customers to a new brand, E.ON Next, in 2021. Since then, the npower brand has only been active within the commercial energy space, marketed as npower Business Solutions, a brand of Npower Commercial Gas Limited. The npower Business Solutions brand still supplies over 20,000 businesses, including customers previously supplied by E.ON who have been migrated.[2]

History

[edit]

The company was established as the consumer division of Innogy plc from the operations ofNational Power,when the overseas operations were demerged asInternational Powerplc in October 2000.[3]

Innogy plc then went on to purchase theregional electricity companyYorkshire Electricityin February 2001.[4]It later disposed of the distribution side of Yorkshire Electricity toCE Electric UKin exchange for the supply business ofNorthern Electric.[5]Innogy plc was taken over by the German energy companyRWEin March 2002, and renamed RWE Npower plc with all the supply business adopting the "npower" brand.[6]

In February 2006, Npower acquired 19% ofTelecom 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%.[7]In February 2009, Npower acquired Superior Plumbing, a business providing services to social housing and business customers across the United Kingdom.[8]

In February 2009, 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.[9]

In November 2013, however, Npower sold the two former Telecom Plus subsidiaries back toUtility Warehousefor £218 million.[10]As a result, Utility Warehouse became one of the largest independent energy suppliers in the United Kingdom.[10]with over 500,000 customers and 770,000 gas and electricity supply points to their name.[11]

The deal also sparked commentary about the possibility of Npower's parent company RWE leaving the United Kingdom, or the emergence of a "Big Seven" in place of the existingBig Six Energy Suppliers.[12]In March 2016, the company announced losses of £106 million and 2,500 global job cuts,[13]as well as moving over 1,000 back office jobs to India,[14]along with the fact that they had lost 351,000 customers in 2015: a high level of customer complaints were cited as reasons for the issues.[15]

On 1 April 2016, RWE split off its renewable energy, network and retail businesses into the newly formedInnogy SE.Npower became a subsidiary of the new business and was renamed Npower Limited.[16]The coal, natural gas and oil-fired energy power stations, which Npower operated, are no longer part of Npower, but ofRWEGeneration UK plc.

Proposed merger/demerger of retail supply division

[edit]

In November 2017, Innogy and rivalSSEannounced a planned merger of Npower's residential and business retail business with SSE's residential energy supply and home services business in Great Britain to create a new company listed on the London Stock Exchange.[17]SSE plan to divest its 65.6% holding in the business to its shareholders and Innogy would own the remainder.[18][19]

The merger received preliminary regulatory clearance from theCompetition and Markets Authorityon 30 August 2018,[20]and full clearance was given on 10 October 2018.[21]In December 2018, it was announced that the merger would no longer be going ahead, with both companies blaming the recent government price caps, business performance and tough market conditions.[22]

Acquisition by E.ON

[edit]

Just after the failed merger of SSE/Npower in December 2018, it was reported that theBig Six energy supplierswould still consolidate to the Big Five, as Npower would be acquired by default byE.ON UK,due to the already planned asset swap of the respective German parentsInnogyandE.ON.[23]Npower announced in January 2019 that it would cut nine hundred jobs to save costs because of "an incredibly tough" retail energy market, and a government price cap.[24]

On 29 November 2019 it was announced that over 4,500 jobs would be axed at npower and the brand was to be wound down, with customers being migrated to E.ON UK as part of E.On Next.[25]This ultimately meant the complete closure of npower as an energy company for residential customers.

In 2021, the npower brand can now only be seen in the market trading as npower Business Solutions to over 20,000 businesses[26]across the UK.

Operations

[edit]
NPowerFord Transitvans inHarrogate,North Yorkshire.

As npower, the company used to supply gas and electricity to residential and business customers in the United Kingdom. Its energy services business provided servicing such as repairing boilers and central heating systems through its Hometeam brand.[27]

Now part of the E.ON group, residential and SME customers have been moved over from npower to E.ON Next.[28][29]

For business customers, however, npower is still trading as npower Business Solutions (nbs),[30]helping large companies with their energy needs.[31]Using its energy expertise, npower Business Solutions helps businesses to better understand and manage their energy consumption, including a focus on offering net zero solutions.[32]As one of the UK’s largest energy suppliers,[33]nbs is able to draw on an in-depth understanding of businesses energy needs to create innovative and practical solutions for customers across a range of industries.

Criticism

[edit]
See also:List of European power companies by carbon intensity

In April 2008, Npower faced allegations over the conduct of its door to door salespeople.[34]An undercover investigation by a 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'.[35]

Npower was eventually fined £1.8 million by the energy regulator Ofgem.[36]Npower have also been criticised for their customer service, having been rated the lowest of all energy suppliers in theWhich?Switch 2010 customer satisfaction survey.[37]

In September 2013,Labour PartyMPs and campaign group38 Degreesaccused Npower of avoiding tax. Npower defended itself by stating that tax paid had been lower than expected due to higher than expected capital investment in the United Kingdom, leading to capital allowances. A Bloomberg report for Greenpeace confirmed that Npower was the biggest investor in new energy infrastructure recently in the United Kingdom.[38]

However, groups such as 38 Degrees called for customers to boycott or switch over to other providers.[39][40][41]

In June 2014, Npower's call centre inFentonclosed, resulting in a loss of 480 jobs following the announcement of the closure the previous December.[42]In December 2015, the company was ordered to pay a £26m settlement by the energy regulator,Ofgem,for "failing to treat customers fairly", the second such fine Ofgem has imposed on it.[43]In November 2019, Npower announced that it will cut up to 4,500 jobs in theUnited Kingdom,to make the company more profitable.[44]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"NPOWER LIMITED overview".Companies House.Retrieved2 July2022.
  2. ^"About our business and purpose".npowerbusinesssolutions.com.Retrieved5 August2021.
  3. ^Plugging into Nat Power splitThe Telegraph, 21 March 2001
  4. ^Npower firm buys up Yorkshire ElectricityBBC News, 22 February 2001
  5. ^Innogy, Northern in retail swap[permanent dead link]Power Engineering International, September 2001
  6. ^RWE is set to buy InnogyNew York Times, 18 March 2002
  7. ^Big gas losses force Telecom Plus to sellDigital Look, 16 February 2006
  8. ^SPI Group is bought by npowerArchived2 August 2012 atarchive.todayHeating & Ventilation, 2009
  9. ^npower Acquires SPI GroupArchived24 March 2012 at theWayback MachineBuild, 4 February 2009[failed verification]
  10. ^abChazan, Guy (20 November 2013)."Telecom Plus deal to challenge big six UK energy suppliers".Financial Times.Retrieved7 October2014.
  11. ^Macalister, Terry; Jennifer Rankin (20 November 2013)."RWE npower supply sale raises fears over UK withdrawal".The Guardian.Retrieved6 October2014.
  12. ^Gosden, Emily (20 November 2013)."Energy challenger Telecom Plus leaps to Big Six's defence".The Daily Telegraph.Retrieved6 October2014.
  13. ^Allen, Katie; Bowers, Simon (6 March 2016)."Npower to cut up to 2,500 jobs in UK and overseas".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved1 April2016.
  14. ^Bawden, Tom (28 November 2013). "Npower defends job cuts".London Evening Standard.p. 67.
  15. ^"Npower job losses 'devastating blow'".BBC. 8 March 2016.Retrieved8 March2016.
  16. ^"About npower".Npower Limited.Retrieved16 November2016.
  17. ^Vaughan, Adam (7 November 2017)."SSE and npower in talks to create giant UK energy supplier".The Guardian.Retrieved8 November2017.
  18. ^Thomas, Nathalie (8 November 2017)."SSE and Npower agree to combine household supply businesses".Financial Times.The Nikkei.Archived fromthe originalon 11 December 2022.Retrieved8 November2017.
  19. ^"Creating a new independent energy supplier".SSE plc. Archived fromthe originalon 11 March 2018.Retrieved10 March2018.
  20. ^Vaughan, Adam (30 August 2018)."Npower-SSE merger wins go-ahead from competition watchdog".The Guardian.Retrieved24 September2018.
  21. ^"Competition watchdog clears SSE-Npower merger".BBC News. 10 October 2018.Retrieved10 October2018.
  22. ^"Energy firms SSE and Npower scrap merger plan".BBC News. 17 December 2018.Retrieved23 December2018.
  23. ^Vaughan, Adam (28 December 2018)."Job fears for npower staff, with ownership transferring to E.ON".The Guardian.Retrieved29 December2018.
  24. ^"'Big six' energy firm to cut 900 jobs ".31 January 2019.Retrieved1 February2019.
  25. ^"E.ONnext – E.ON and Kraken Technologies form strategic partnership for E.ON's UK residential and commercial customer business".
  26. ^"About our business and purpose".npowerbusinesssolutions.com.Retrieved5 August2021.
  27. ^"Retail – supplying the UK at home and work".rwe.com.Retrieved30 July2015.
  28. ^"E.ON Next".www.eonnext.com.Retrieved31 March2022.
  29. ^E.ON Next (31 March 2022)."npower is closing down".
  30. ^"Solutions for complex energy management strategies | npower".npowerbusinesssolutions.com.Retrieved31 March2022.
  31. ^"E.ON Next".www.eonnext.com.Retrieved31 March2022.
  32. ^"Corporate net zero services | npower Business Solutions".npowerbusinesssolutions.com.Retrieved31 March2022.
  33. ^"About our business and purpose | npower Business Solutions".npowerbusinesssolutions.com.Retrieved31 March2022.
  34. ^npower suspends staff over claimsBBC, 6 April 2008
  35. ^Exposed: energy giant cheats its customersThe Times, 6 April 2008
  36. ^npower fined over doorstep salesBBC, 22 December 2008
  37. ^Customer Satisfaction Survey ResultsWhich
  38. ^npower admits not paying taxes for three yearsArchived20 April 2013 at theWayback MachineMSN.com
  39. ^The big tax turn offArchived7 June 2013 at theWayback Machine38 Degrees
  40. ^RWE npower
  41. ^"Bloomberg report for Greenpeace"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 July 2012.Retrieved27 June2013.
  42. ^"550 job losses at Npower are 'grave mistake' say Unison".HR Grapevine.Retrieved29 October2014.
  43. ^Burn-Callander, Rebecca (18 December 2015)."Npower fined record £26m over customer service failures".The Telegraph.Retrieved8 March2016.
  44. ^"Energy supplier Npower to axe up to 4,500 jobs".29 November 2019.Retrieved1 December2019.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Npower_(United_Kingdom)&oldid=1225535880"