Britain’s second-largest energy company could be created from a merger between EDF Energy and Scottish Power, a move that would spark competition fears in the UK and outrage from consumer groups which are already warning about soaring electricity and gas prices. It has emerged today that EDF, the giant French energy monopoly that is London’s main electricity provider, could be poised to launch a takeover bid for Iberdrola, the Spanish group that bought Scottish Power 15-months ago. That would create the UK’s secondlargest household energy provider after British Gas and cut the number of major market suppliers to five. A tie-up in Britain between EDF Energy and Scottish Power would create a company with more than 10m gas and electricity customer accounts, over a fifth of the residential market. It would overtake Southern Electric group Scottish and Southern Energy, which has about eight million customers. German groups E.On (which used to trade as Powergen) and RWE, the owner of npower, share the remaining 25% of the UK market. Consumer watchdog Energywatch is already warning the Government that competition between the existing six major suppliers is not operating properly.

Related posts...

• June 22, 2010 -- UK Business Energy Prices: (3)
  A new survey carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit has revealed that over 80% of British firms expect energy and fuel prices to rise sharply and almost 50% have great concern that the UK coul...
• February 21, 2010 -- Identifying a Half Hour Meter: (0)
  How to find out if you have a half hourly meter – So how do you know if you have a half hour meter?  It’s actually quite straight forward, and all you will need to find this out is a recent copy o...
• February 10, 2010 -- UK Business Gas Prices: (0)
  Business Gas Prices can be difficult to understand, as there are many different types of pricing structures available.  You could simply ring around and obtain gas prices direct from suppliers, but it...
• February 7, 2010 -- Oil Prices Back To $70 Range: (0)
  Oil prices plunged in a busy trading session on Friday, triggering big losses across the commodities markets, as investors went back to buying into the US dollar.  Crude oil prices did have a partial ...
• February 5, 2010 -- CRC Business Lights: (1)
  The era of the 'on-all-night' illuminated high street could end, the Environment Agency is predicting. The agency says new rules will force businesses to switch off lights and displays at night to mee...
• February 3, 2010 -- Bglobal Smart Meter Deal: (3)
  Bglobal Plc said it has signed a new agreement to supply and install smart meters for British Gas Business during 2010. The contract value is anticipated at more than £12 million. In addition, the com...