Latest news with #JohnPettigrew
Telegraph
02-07-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Underinvestment isn't the National Grid's only problem
The National Grid is one part of our creaking infrastructure that is critical to the functioning of all others. If the power is cut little else works, whether it be hospitals, railways, electric vehicles or the internet. It is important, then, to be confident in the management of the grid and to know that when things go wrong lessons are learnt. Yet such optimism is misplaced judging by the report into the fire that shut down an electricity sub-station near Heathrow earlier this year. The power outage closed one of the world's busiest airports, causing cancellations and delays to hundreds of flights. An investigation by the National Energy System Operator (Neso) has found that the cause was a fault first detected seven years ago that had not been fixed. A 'catastrophic' maintenance failure had allowed moisture to enter an electrical component, triggering a blaze in the transformer. Neso said National Grid had been made aware of the issue in 2018. The obvious questions are: why was nothing done and who was responsible for the oversight? The regulator Ofgem is to consider any possible licence breaches relating to the maintenance of the sub-station. An Ofgem executive said the incident had 'highlighted the importance of investment in our energy infrastructure'. But that is not true. It has highlighted a failure of someone to do their job properly, not a lack of resources. John Pettigrew, the outgoing chief executive of National Grid, was paid more than £7 million in salary and bonuses in a single year, so money is not an issue. Ofgem said companies failing to properly maintain their equipment would be held to account. We shall see.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
National Grid plc (NGG) Announces its FY 2025 Results
National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) recently announced its results for the full-year 2025. Let's see how the company performed during the year. National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) is the UK's largest electricity distribution network, serving nearly 8 million customers in the country. The company also operates in the US, delivering electricity, natural gas, and clean energy to more than 20 million people throughout New York and Massachusetts. National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) recently posted its results for FY 2025, reporting an underlying EPS of 73.3p, up 2% from the previous year and ahead of guidance, with the underlying operating profit increase more than offsetting the increased number of shares after the Rights Issue. Moreover, the company's record £9.8 billion of capital investment helped to drive regulated asset growth of 10.5%. However, revenue decreased by 7% YoY to £18.38 billion. NGG's cash flow generated from continuing operations during the year came in at £7 billion, £0.3 billion lower than last year, mainly due to adverse timing movements. National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) also declared a total dividend of 46.72p for its shareholders, an increase of 3.21% on last year's rebased dividend. As of the end of FY 2025, the company had £18 billion of distributable reserves, which is sufficient to cover more than five years of forecast dividends. National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) has earmarked tens of billions of pounds in capital expenditure over the coming years to upgrade the UK's grid system, and recently raised £7bn via a share placing from investors to fund its growth and strengthen its balance sheet. John Pettigrew, CEO of National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG), stated: "We've made significant progress in the first year of our five-year financial framework, with record capital investment of almost £10 billion, 20% higher than 2024, helping to drive regulated asset growth of around 10% this year. Strong performance across all areas of the business underpins our plans to successfully invest c.£60 billion over five years. At a time of international economic uncertainty, National Grid continues to provide stable and predictable growth through our resilient business model. We remain focused on delivering secure, affordable and clean energy to our customers and communities, and providing long-term value and returns for our shareholders." While we acknowledge the potential of NGG to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NGG and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 Cheap Energy Stocks to Buy Now and 10 Most Undervalued Energy Stocks According to Hedge Funds. Disclosure: None.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
National Grid plc (NGG) Announces its FY 2025 Results
National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) recently announced its results for the full-year 2025. Let's see how the company performed during the year. National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) is the UK's largest electricity distribution network, serving nearly 8 million customers in the country. The company also operates in the US, delivering electricity, natural gas, and clean energy to more than 20 million people throughout New York and Massachusetts. National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) recently posted its results for FY 2025, reporting an underlying EPS of 73.3p, up 2% from the previous year and ahead of guidance, with the underlying operating profit increase more than offsetting the increased number of shares after the Rights Issue. Moreover, the company's record £9.8 billion of capital investment helped to drive regulated asset growth of 10.5%. However, revenue decreased by 7% YoY to £18.38 billion. NGG's cash flow generated from continuing operations during the year came in at £7 billion, £0.3 billion lower than last year, mainly due to adverse timing movements. National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) also declared a total dividend of 46.72p for its shareholders, an increase of 3.21% on last year's rebased dividend. As of the end of FY 2025, the company had £18 billion of distributable reserves, which is sufficient to cover more than five years of forecast dividends. National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) has earmarked tens of billions of pounds in capital expenditure over the coming years to upgrade the UK's grid system, and recently raised £7bn via a share placing from investors to fund its growth and strengthen its balance sheet. John Pettigrew, CEO of National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG), stated: "We've made significant progress in the first year of our five-year financial framework, with record capital investment of almost £10 billion, 20% higher than 2024, helping to drive regulated asset growth of around 10% this year. Strong performance across all areas of the business underpins our plans to successfully invest c.£60 billion over five years. At a time of international economic uncertainty, National Grid continues to provide stable and predictable growth through our resilient business model. We remain focused on delivering secure, affordable and clean energy to our customers and communities, and providing long-term value and returns for our shareholders." While we acknowledge the potential of NGG to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NGG and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 Cheap Energy Stocks to Buy Now and 10 Most Undervalued Energy Stocks According to Hedge Funds. Disclosure: None.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
National Grid boss: Heathrow and TfL outages not ‘systemic' network issues
The boss of National Grid has said recent outages at Heathrow airport and the London Tube are not evidence of reliability issues in the UK's power network. John Pettigrew told the PA news agency the two incidents were 'isolated and unconnected' and added that the resilience of the power grid is 'very robust'. Heathrow was forced to close for most of the day on March 21 because of a fire at a nearby electrical substation which started the previous night, disrupting more than 270,000 air passenger journeys. And on Monday, Transport for London (TfL) was forced to close the Elizabeth, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Northern lines after a fault on National Grid's transmission network. The malfunction also caused a blaze at an electrical substation in Maida Vale. Mr Pettigrew said on Thursday: 'In terms of broader resilience for network, I'd say that these incidents are not pointing to anything systemic.' Power networks are being more closely scrutinised across Europe after a massive outage hit vast swathes of Spain last month. The country's energy minister Sara Aagesen said earlier this week that the blackout was triggered by a sudden loss of power at a substation in Granada. However, investigations are ongoing into what caused the failure, and why it triggered such a huge power cut. Mr Pettigrew said: 'It will be important to look at the outcome of that investigation and see what it means for us.' National Grid, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, owns vast swathes of the power grid across Britain. It is partway through a £60 billion investment programme across the energy networks it manages, including the so-called Great Grid Upgrade in England, Scotland and Wales. The works are a large part of the Government's plans to decarbonise the power grid by 2030, which also involves building vast amounts of new wind and solar farms. Mr Pettigrew said the switch to renewable energy sources and the fast changes to how the energy grid works would not raise the risks of blackouts in the UK. He said: 'The UK, we have world class reliability. We invest massively in the asset health and resilience of the network. 'If you look at some of the core indicators of the overall condition of the network (such as unplanned unavailability of assets) that actually continued to improve over the last decade.' He added: 'There's no evidence of any deterioration in the reliability of the network. We just have to keep focused on it.' Mr Pettigrew is to step down later this year after nearly a decade in the job, to be replaced by Shell executive Zoe Yujnovich.
The Independent
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
National Grid boss: Heathrow and TfL outages not ‘systemic' network issues
The boss of National Grid has said recent outages at Heathrow airport and the London Tube are not evidence of reliability issues in the UK's power network. John Pettigrew told the PA news agency the two incidents were 'isolated and unconnected' and added that the resilience of the power grid is 'very robust'. Heathrow was forced to close for most of the day on March 21 because of a fire at a nearby electrical substation which started the previous night, disrupting more than 270,000 air passenger journeys. And on Monday, Transport for London (TfL) was forced to close the Elizabeth, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Northern lines after a fault on National Grid's transmission network. The malfunction also caused a blaze at an electrical substation in Maida Vale. Mr Pettigrew said on Thursday: 'In terms of broader resilience for network, I'd say that these incidents are not pointing to anything systemic.' Power networks are being more closely scrutinised across Europe after a massive outage hit vast swathes of Spain last month. The country's energy minister Sara Aagesen said earlier this week that the blackout was triggered by a sudden loss of power at a substation in Granada. However, investigations are ongoing into what caused the failure, and why it triggered such a huge power cut. Mr Pettigrew said: 'It will be important to look at the outcome of that investigation and see what it means for us.' National Grid, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, owns vast swathes of the power grid across Britain. It is partway through a £60 billion investment programme across the energy networks it manages, including the so-called Great Grid Upgrade in England, Scotland and Wales. The works are a large part of the Government's plans to decarbonise the power grid by 2030, which also involves building vast amounts of new wind and solar farms. Mr Pettigrew said the switch to renewable energy sources and the fast changes to how the energy grid works would not raise the risks of blackouts in the UK. He said: 'The UK, we have world class reliability. We invest massively in the asset health and resilience of the network. 'If you look at some of the core indicators of the overall condition of the network (such as unplanned unavailability of assets) that actually continued to improve over the last decade.' He added: 'There's no evidence of any deterioration in the reliability of the network. We just have to keep focused on it.' Mr Pettigrew is to step down later this year after nearly a decade in the job, to be replaced by Shell executive Zoe Yujnovich.
