The Lemon Fool

csearle wrote:I think that these wind farms should basically be used to split water into hydrogen, with the resulting hydrogen turned back into electricity at an appropriate rate. In that way the vagaries of the wind could be evened out c.f. cashflow accounts. C.

In accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 5.6.1, SSE plc ("the Company") would like to notify the market of the following:

As at 30 April 2021, the issued share capital of the Company was 1,049,144,208 ordinary shares. This figure includes 6,037,617 ordinary shares which are held in treasury. The voting rights on treasury shares are automatically suspended.

Therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company was 1,043,106,591 as at 30 April 2021, and this figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution, a wholly owned subsidiary of SSE Plc, has today published its ambitious draft business plan for 2023 to 2028, setting out how it will accelerate investment in its networks and services to power communities to net zero.

Responding to the legally-binding net zero targets from UK and Scottish Government and the central role of local electricity networks in achieving them, SSEN's stakeholder-led plan balances the need to accelerate investment in the smart, flexible electricity system of the future, while keeping costs down for consumers.

It also responds to stakeholder and customer feedback, proposing improvements to services, increased reliability and resilience; and further support for those most vulnerable, particularly in light of the ongoing social and economic impact of Covid-19.

The draft business plan sets out six clear goals that SSEN will deliver for customers and communities by 2028:

· Reduce the frequency and duration of unplanned power interruptions by 20%

· Create a foundation for net zero by investing £1bn in strategic resilience across its networks

· Achieve a customer satisfaction score of 9.2 or more (out of 10) in every customer contact area

· Support 200,000 customers in vulnerable situations with targeted fuel poverty, personal resilience or energy efficiency measures

· Facilitate the connection of an additional 1.3 million electric vehicles and 800,000 heat pumps

· Reduce its business carbon footprint by at least 35%, aligned to a 1.5c science-based target.

To deliver this plan, SSEN has proposed £4.1bn in baseline investment over the five-year RIIO-ED2 period which represents an increase of around 35% on the equivalent period in RIIO-ED1.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

· Setting out a strong, stakeholder-led business plan in Distribution
On 1 July, SSEN Distribution published its ambitious stakeholder-led draft business plan for 2023 to 2028, setting out how it will deliver improvements for customers and accelerate investment in its networks to 'power communities to net zero' over the course of the RIIO-ED2 price control period. The plan includes £4.1bn of investment, representing an increase of around 35% compared to an equivalent period in ED1, and would see SSEN Distribution's regulated asset value increase to over £6bn from around £4bn at the end of the current price control.

· Creating value from non-core disposals
Good progress continues to be made on SSE's disposals programme which is on course to realise more than £2bn from the sale of non-core assets and businesses that are not a good fit with SSE's net zero strategy. The sale of SSE's Contracting business to Aurelius, first announced on 1 April, was successfully completed on 30 June 2021. As reported in May, SSE has initiated a sale process for its stake in SGN, targeting an agreed sale by the end of the calendar year.*

· Projects under construction and future pipeline

Construction continues to progress on SSE's major projects in Transmission and in Renewables, in line with the update provided in May. These include building the world's largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank, Scotland's largest offshore wind farm at Seagreen and one of Europe's most productive onshore wind farms at Viking on Shetland, as well as the associated link connecting the island to the mainland.

SSE continues to expect that capital expenditure and investment will total around £2bn in 2021/22 (net of project finance development expenditure refunds).

Looking further ahead, SSE is seeking to add to its considerable pipeline in Renewables and has submitted bids, with its partners Marubeni and CIP, for a number of sites through the ScotWind seabed leasing process.

· Pursuing growth options in Transmission

SSEN Transmission remains on track to submit Initial Needs Cases to Ofgem for the Skye Reinforcement this summer and the Argyll 275kV upgrade this autumn. A Final Needs Case for the first of two planned East Coast HVDC links from Peterhead to England is also expected to be submitted by the end of 2021. These are over and above SSEN Transmission's RIIO-T2 Certain View which, alongside additional Uncertainty Mechanism expenditure needed to deliver a pathway towards net zero, could bring total RIIO-T2 expenditure to over £4bn, with the associated Transmission RAV potentially increasing to over £6bn over the same period.

SSE has agreed to sell its entire 33.3% stake in gas distribution operator Scotia Gas Networks Ltd (SGN) to a consortium comprising existing SGN shareholder Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') and Brookfield Super-Core Infrastructure Partners (Brookfield) (the Consortium).

And later;

The disposal proceeds will reduce net debt in the short term and will help support the delivery of SSE's capital investment plans. As indicated in May, SSE will provide an update on these plans at its interim results in November.

The Board of SSE plc ('the Company') confirms that the Scrip reference price for the fully paid ordinary shares to be issued to shareholders electing to receive the Scrip dividend alternative for the final dividend for the year ending 31 March 2021, payable on 23 September 2021, will be 1,475 pence per share.

The Scrip reference price has been calculated by taking the average mid-market closing price of the Company's shares over the five business days commencing on the ex-dividend date. In respect of the final dividend for the year ending 31 March 2021, this was the period 29 July to 4 August 2021.

ReallyVeryFoolish wrote:SSE jumped >5% today after the same corporate vultures who are stalking GSK turned up. Rumour seems to be that SSE could be bid for and perhaps the renewable energy business sold off to an oil major. What a massive shame if that were to come to pass.

RVF

absolutezero wrote:

ReallyVeryFoolish wrote:SSE jumped >5% today after the same corporate vultures who are stalking GSK turned up. Rumour seems to be that SSE could be bid for and perhaps the renewable energy business sold off to an oil major. What a massive shame if that were to come to pass.

RVF

Depends which oil major.
Shell or BP would suit me.

absolutezero wrote:

ReallyVeryFoolish wrote:SSE jumped >5% today after the same corporate vultures who are stalking GSK turned up. Rumour seems to be that SSE could be bid for and perhaps the renewable energy business sold off to an oil major. What a massive shame if that were to come to pass.

RVF

Depends which oil major.
Shell or BP would suit me.

ReallyVeryFoolish wrote:

Dod101 wrote:

absolutezero wrote:Depends which oil major.
Shell or BP would suit me.

Why would either of these suit you, as a matter of interest?

I think it would be a disaster if SSE were to be taken over by the likes of Blackrock, which has recently appeared on the share register. They are in the midst of converting themselves into a renewable energy company, have always been very shareholder friendly and if they were broken up it would undo all the good work. Besides, if the renewables business were to be sold to say an oil major, that would simply dilute the benefits. Anyway an oil major could buy SSE now and sell off the electricity bit if they wanted.

Such a move or similar would be bound to elicit interest from the regulator and both the Westminster and Scottish Governments.

Dod

Far, far too much critical UK infrastructure is already in the hands of foreign powers. This kind of thing certainly does not happen in many western democracies, least of all in France (and China, yes, I already know they aren't western nor a democracy) who regrettably hold the keys to door on the UK nuclear industry.

RVF

SSEN Transmission notes today's publication of the CMA's summary of its provisional determinations into SSEN Transmission's appeal against certain elements of Ofgem's RIIO-T2 price control settlement.

The full provisional determinations are expected to be released to appellants and interveners on Wednesday afternoon. This will be followed by a three-week consultation for the CMA to consider responses in advance of its final determinations, which are expected no later than 30 October 2021.

In its provisional determinations, the CMA has upheld appeals against the assumed 'Outperformance Wedge', and for changes to the Licence Modification Process.

However, the CMA's provisional decision has not upheld appeals on:

· Ofgem's flawed Cost of Equity, which does not reflect the risks associated with the investment needed in electricity transmission to deliver net zero. It also differs from the approach recently adopted by the CMA for the water industry; or

· Changes to how Transmission Network Use of System Charges are recovered and the associated risk to Transmission Owners of exposure to under-recovery.

OLTB wrote:Afternoon - just seen this story about Elliott Investors and their desire to separate the SSE renewables business and electricity business https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.shar ... 88424.html

I don’t know if it’s a ‘non-story’ or if there’s anything behind it, but thought it might interest some.

Cheers, OLTB.

Dod101 wrote: I think SSE should be seen, amongst other things, as a supplier of electricity and then leave it to the management to decide the mix of sources from which it is derived.

Dod101 wrote:

OLTB wrote:Afternoon - just seen this story about Elliott Investors and their desire to separate the SSE renewables business and electricity business https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.shar ... 88424.html

I don’t know if it’s a ‘non-story’ or if there’s anything behind it, but thought it might interest some.

Cheers, OLTB.

As a shareholder in SSE, I am very happy with it as it is and this seems to me to be a quite unnecessary intervention. Having a foot in both camps is I think good diversification. I think SSE should be seen, amongst other things, as a supplier of electricity and then leave it to the management to decide the mix of sources from which it is derived.

Dod