ScottishPower reports retail loss as consumers cut back on energy use
Profits for ScottishPower, the renewable energy generator, were improved by windy conditions last year – but the supplier took a hit as Britons cut back on energy consumption in the face of higher bills.
The energy generation and supply group, which is owned by Spain’s Iberdrola, said underlying group profits in 2022 had risen 3.6% to £1.6bn on a year earlier.
However, ScottishPower made a loss of £18m in its retail business – which, with 4.7 million customers, is the sixth biggest supplier – after slumping from a £3m profit the year before.
It said total volumes of gas used in 2022 fell 18.3% while electricity use was down 4.5%.
The figures are among the first indicators of the scale at which households and businesses reduced their energy usage amid higher bills last year.
The price of gas surged after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pushing up already high wholesale gas costs, as well as power prices.
The costs fed through into household bills and the government stepped in to cover part of consumer bills through the energy price guarantee. Ministers encouraged the public to reduce their energy consumption with an advertising campaign.
A relatively mild winter in the UK is also expected to have reduced gas demand.
ScottishPower said its retail profits were also hit by the cost of buying energy at higher prices before the government guarantee, which covers the wholesale costs for suppliers, was introduced in October. The company hopes to recover a “significant proportion of the losses incurred in 2022” during this year.
Profits in ScottishPower’s renewables business, which includes Whitelee, the UK’s largest onshore windfarm, near Glasgow, rose 24% to £730m, helped by windier weather, selloffs of IT and offshore assets, and higher
Read more on theguardian.com
