Output | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Power Plant | Location | Year commissioned | Number of units | Type of station | Capacity | 2020 | 2019 |
Cottam | Cottam
Nottinghamshire | Cottam
1970 | Cottam
- | Cottam
Coal-fired | Cottam
- | Cottam Output 0.0 | 1.7 |
West Burton A | West Burton A
Nottinghamshire | West Burton A
1969 | West Burton A
4 | West Burton A
Coal-fired and OCGT (1) | West Burton A
1,987 | West Burton A Output 1.2 | 0.8 |
West Burton B | West Burton B
Nottinghamshire | West Burton B
2013 | West Burton B
3 | West Burton B
Combined Cycle Gas Turbine | West Burton B
1,332 | West Burton B Output 4.9 | 6.2 |
TOTAL(2) | TOTAL(2)
UK | TOTAL(2)
| TOTAL(2)
7 | TOTAL(2)
| TOTAL(2)
3,319 | TOTAL(2) Output 6.0 | 8.6 |
(1)Open Cycle Gas Turbine.
(2)Differences in total number due to the rounding.
The Cottam Power Plant closed on 30th September 2019 after more than 50 years of being in service. The decision to close the station was made following market changes together with a drive to actively remove carbon from the power generation process. Currently plans are progressing to dispose of the site to a third party developer. The likely timescale for agreement is Q1-Q2 2021 although this is subject to agreement of terms between the parties.
West Burton B CCGT generated 4.9TWh of electricity in 2020, a decrease of 1.3TWh from 2019. This represented a good performance considering the market volatilities, plant challenges and associated outage periods during the year.
EDF Energy also operates two mid cycle gas storage facilities in Cheshire. Hill TopFarm became commercially operational in mid-January 2015 with three cavities. A fourth cavity became commercially operational in 2018 with the remaining cavity brought into service in December 2019. During 2020 the decision was made to decommission the Hole House Facility due to challenging market conditions coupled with imminent requirements for some significant investment to the plant.Decommissioning work is planned to start in early 2021.
As the largest generator of low-carbon electricity in the country, EDF Energy benefits significantly from the increase in the wholesale power price as a result of the application of a carbon price to the carbon emissions of fossil fuelled generation. Electricity generators in Great Britain are subject to two main carbon pricing mechanisms, the UK Emissions Trading System (UK ETS) and the UK’s Carbon Price Support tax.
In the December 2020 Energy White Paper, the UK Government confirmed that theUK’s participation in the EU ETS would be replaced from 1 January 2021 by the operation of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS), which will operate with broadly similar rules to the EU ETS. In their post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the UK and EU have agreed to cooperate on carbon pricing and to give serious consideration to linking the UK ETS to the EU ETS. However, there is no commitment to do so. If there is such a linkage, then the UK ETS is expected to deliver the same carbon price as the EU ETS; without such a linkage, the price delivered by the UK ETS is likely to be more uncertain and volatile.
The Carbon Price Support tax applied to electricity generators in Great Britain is currently set at £18/tonne until March 2022 and the tax rate for 2022/23 is expected to be set in the March 2021 Budget.
1.4.5.1.2.4 Customer business
31/12/2020 | 31/12/2019 | |
|---|---|---|
Customer electricity supplied(in GWh) | Customer electricity supplied(in GWh) 31/12/2020 40,850 | Customer electricity supplied(in GWh) 31/12/2019 44,526 |
Customer gas supplied(in GWh) | Customer gas supplied(in GWh) 31/12/2020 29,462 | Customer gas supplied(in GWh) 31/12/2019 28,527 |
Number of domestic customer accounts at the end of the period (in thousands) | Number of domestic customer accounts at the end of the period (in thousands) 31/12/2020 4,837 | Number of domestic customer accounts at the end of the period (in thousands) 31/12/2019 5,043 |
The Customers business is responsible for the supply of gas and electricity to residential and business customers across Great Britain and the wholesale market optimisation of EDF Energy’s generation and customer assets.
EDF Energy sells energy to two major customer segments: domestic and business customers. The size of business customers ranges from large public sector contracts to small privately-owned businesses. EDF Energy adopts different risk management strategies for domestic and business customers.
In 2020, EDF Energy has taken large steps towards helping Britain achieve Net Zero, with opportunities across nearly all ten points laid out by the UK Government for a green recovery. The company acquired a majority stake in Pod Point, a leading UK charge point provider, giving a key foothold in this market. 7,176 electric vehicles(EV) related products were sold by EDF Energy in 2020.
EDF Energy is one of the UK leaders in energy efficiency installations, through the Energy Company Obligation Scheme (ECO). Elsewhere, in the Beyond Supply market, EDF Energy’s Heat proposition has been brought to market which offers innovative low-carbon products which coincides with the UK Government’s Green Home Grant initiative. “I&C Flexibility Services has secured an additional 50MW battery contract with the Gresham House portfolio. The team has also signed a 12-year contract with SWGT (Still Waters Green Technology) for a 30MW battery.
EDF remains committed to its Smart Meter installation programme, part of upgrading the UK’s energy infrastructure to enable concepts such as smart grids and time-of-use tariffs, which contribute to grid resilience as the UK moves towards a low carbon future.
EDF Energy supplied 11.333TWh of electricity and 28.882TWh of gas for the domestic segment in 2020. As at 31 December 2020, EDF Energy had 2.901 million electricity accounts and 1.936 million gas accounts. The 2020 churn rate (at 20.1%) showed an increase compared to 2019 (at 19%), driven by strong price competition and churn of former iSupply Energy customers following their acquisition by EDF in March 2020.
The Coronavirus pandemic had a substantial impact on the business in 2020. This contributed to a total usage increase of approximately 1.1TWh for Domestic Customers YoY, with a higher proportion of time spent at home. However, given the economic downturn, this increased revenue was more than offset by a higher Bad debt charge of £39 million YoY with an increase in the number of customers unable to pay debt owed to EDF.
