Scottish Power
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Scottish Power Plc is an energy company headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland. It owns the National Grid system in Scotland, supplies electricity and gas to homes and business around the United Kingdom, and generates power for supply to the grid. It also owns Pacificorp in the United States. Scottish Power is quoted on the London Stock Exchange as part of the FTSE 100 Index, and has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Scottish Power was formed in March 1991, by the privatisation of the previously state owned Scottish electricity industry. Previously the UK government had privatised the English and Welsh electricity industry by splitting the market into 12 supply companies and two power generators. However in Scotland, the industry was already organised on an integrated generation and supply basis, and this integration survived the privatisation to become a model for the rest of the United Kingdom. Scottish Power was formed by the privatisation of the larger of the two generation and supply boards, the South of Scotland Electricity Board, whilst the other, the North of Scotland Hydro Board, eventually became part of the Scottish and Southern Energy Group.
Scottish Power was the largest of the two Scottish energy companies and benefited from being both a generator and supplier of power. In 1995 it acquired the English supplier, Manweb which supplied Merseyside and North Wales. It later diversified into the water supply business with the purchase of Southern Water. When the supply of energy into British homes was opened up to competition, Scottish Power entered this market, stealing share from the previous gas supply monopoly British Gas and also building new market share in England and Wales through a partnership with the Sainsbury's supermarket chain.
In the United Kingdom, Scottish Power generates electricity using coal fired thermal power stations, combined cycle power stations, hydro-electric schemes, pumped storage generation and substantial wind farms. It also supplies electricty to Northern Ireland, through the Moyle Interconnector with Northern Ireland Electricity.
In 2000, Scottish Power completed the acquisition of Pacificorp which supplies electricity in the western United States. It now operates as Pacific Power (in the the regulated energy industries of the states of Oregon, Wyoming, Washington, and California), as Utah Power (in the regulated energy industries of the states of Idaho and Utah), and as PPM Energy (in the non-regulated energy industry). In the United States, Scottish Power generates electricity using coal and natural gas fired thermal power stations, hydro-electric stations, wind farms, geothermal and solar power stations. The results of this are that the group now generates 50% of its income in the United States.
Scottish Power also established the telecommunications company, Thus. This was floated on the London Stock Exchange with Scottish Power retaining a 20% stake, until 2002 when it sold its interest.
In May 2005 Scottish Power announced that it had agreed to sell its U.S. interests to MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a company controlled by Warren Buffet's company Berkshire Hathaway, for $ 5.1 billion in cash and $4.3 billion in debt and preferred stock. The deal is expected to complete in 2006 subject to regulatory approval. Scottish Power intends to return a large proportion of the proceeds to its shareholders.
External links
- Scottish Power website (http://www.scottishpower.com/)