Just in case you are wondering who owns our big energy companies -
British Gas (Centrica) – set up as a private company in 1997, it began selling electricity a year later
EDF – still mostly owned by the French government, it was created out of a series of mergers in 2003
E.ON – the UK arm of the German company was set up in 2002, after they bought privatised PowerGen in 2002
Npower – originally part of Innogy (part of the privatised National Power), it was set up as Npower in 2002 after being bought by German company RWE
Scottish Power – set up as a state-owned company in 1990, it was privatised the following year
SSE – set up in 1998, it was a merger of two Scottish electricity companies that had already been privatised earlier in the 1990s
I find it ironic that the largely state owned French company EDF probably pays a large dividend to the French government majority share holders, who in turn subsidise French energy.
