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Strong customer growth underpinned by continued investment in the business
Highlights:
Supply
· Continued strong customer growth with overall customer numbers up 34%.
Customer type |
H1: |
H1: |
Year-on-Year Growth |
Electricity |
55,000 |
46,000 |
+20% |
Gas |
28,000 |
20,000 |
+40% |
Feed-in-tariff sites |
93,500 |
66,000 |
+42% |
Total |
176,500 |
132,000 |
+34% |
· Significant investment made in the period to support further customer growth.
Generation
· Four solar farms completed with a combined capacity of 23MW - Rook Wood and Lower End (
· Oaklands solar farm, with a capacity of 4.9MW, on track to complete in H2 2015 bringing year-end combined capacity to 52MW.
Overview
· Strong customer growth has been achieved against a backdrop of continued competitive trading conditions.
· The Company intends to set out a new five-year strategic plan at its interim results for the six months ended
· We note the government's decision to end subsidies for onshore wind a year earlier than planned. We are in discussions with government and other stakeholders regarding any grace period that might be applied.
· We welcomed the
· We note the announcement in the Budget that the government will remove the Climate Change Levy (CCL) exemption for renewably sourced electricity from
Juliet Davenport OBE, Chief Executive, said:
"We have made positive progress during the period with overall customer numbers up to 176,500, as consumers continue to switch to
"In terms of our generation portfolio, 23MW of additional capacity has been brought on during the period and we are on track to deliver 52MW of our own generated capacity by year end. However, the recent Government announcement that it will end the subsidy for onshore wind appears to be inconsistent with the legally binding commitment to meet CO2 emissions targets by 2020. We will look to implement both short and longer-term strategies in the light of these plans.
"I look forward to providing a further update on our five-year growth strategy at our interim results."
Supply
On the supply side, although we saw a slight slow-down in growth, the number of electricity customers nonetheless grew by 20% to a total of 55,000 (H1 2014 46,000). Gas customer numbers were up 40% to 28,000 (H1 2014: 20,000) and Feed-in-Tariff customers increased by 42% to 93,500 (H1 2014: 66,000). In addition, half hourly business customer numbers grew by 48.6%.
This growth continues to be driven by the Company's proposition of 100% renewable electricity and great customer service at a competitive price.
Generation
During the period, investment has continued into the Company's renewable electricity generation portfolio, with the completion of four solar farms - Rook Wood and Lower End (
Current trading
Over the first six months of the year, we have maintained strong customer growth against a backdrop of continuing competitive market conditions. We have seen pressure on overall margins in the Supply business with strong growth in lower margin business volumes for electricity customers. In particular, we have incurred higher costs than expected in our gas business. Partially offsetting this, we have seen both wind and solar generation performing slightly ahead of expectations. No significant site sales were made in the first six months.
Given current trading, continued growth in customer numbers, continued out-performance across our generation portfolio and subject to successful completion of site sales in the next six months, the Company expects the full year results to be in line with expectations, with margin pressure in the Supply business broadly offset by other areas of the business.
Investments of
Research and Product Innovation
Our Research and Product Innovation team has been exploring opportunities around a decentralised electricity market and the potential for home battery storage.
We have established a partnership with Open Utility, for a trial of Piclo - the
The Company has also partnered with Moixa Technology, which has been awarded funding by the
Management team
Further appointments have been made to the senior management team to drive forward the Company's next stage of growth with the appointment of
Notice of Results
The Company will announce its interim results for the six months ended
[Ends]
Enquiries:
|
Tel. +44 (0)1249 766795 |
Arden Partners plc (Nominated Adviser and Broker) |
Tel: +44 (0) 12 1423 8900
|
Camarco (Financial PR Adviser)
|
Tel: +44(0) 20 33757 4980 |
Good Energy Press Office |
Tel: +44(1)249 765540 |
Notes to editors:
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- An AIM-listed PLC, and founder member of the
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- The company has consistently performed well in the annual Which? energy company customer satisfaction survey, winning first or second place in each of the last four years, and topping two consecutive MoneySavingExpert consumer polls.
- It now has more than 55,000 renewable electricity customers and 28,000 gas customers. It works with a community of 93,500 small and medium scale renewable electricity generators. (All figures as at 30 June 2015.)
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- The Company has recently won the following: Business Green Awards - Company of the Year 2015; 2015 British Renewable Energy Association Leadership Award; and, for the second year running,
This information is provided by RNS