- The Guardian,
- Friday May 19 2006
National Grid is to invest more than £12bn over the next five years, with the bulk of the money being spent on expanding and improving Britain's energy infrastructure.
The company, which runs gas and electricity distribution and transmission systems, said about £9bn would be invested in facilities to increase gas imports, connect up renewable energy sources and upgrade infrastructure installed in the 1960s.
National Grid acknowledged that the investment costs would eventually be passed on to customers, but its deputy chief executive, Steve Holliday, said transmission charges were such a small proportion of overall energy costs that the impact would be "very small indeed".
Yesterday National Grid, Britain's biggest utility, reported pretax profits up by 11% to £1.9bn in the year to March 31, while earnings per share rose by 10%. Its shares closed up 10p at 569.5p.
The chairman, Sir John Parker, said: "National Grid has again delivered a strong operational and financial performance ... accompanied by our usual focus on safety and reliability of delivery."
The group is in the process of a big expansion programme in the US, and Mr Holliday said moves by European competition authorities to open up the energy market could present opportunities, but "there's an awful long way to go".
