History
Powergen was formed in 1989 as a public limited company which was wholly owned by the UK government and acquired about 50% of the Central Electricity Generating Board generating capacity. Sir Robert Malpas was Chairman of the Group from 1989 to 1991.[8] Sixty per cent of Powergen was sold to private investors in 1991, followed by the remaining 40% in March 1995.[9] It expanded considerably by acquiring the regional electricity company East Midlands Electricity in 1998[10] and the supply business of TXU Energi in 2002.[11] Powergen was eventually taken over itself by E.ON, with the original offer made in April 2001,[12] an acquisition which was completed in January 2002.[13]
It then bought the distribution network operator Midlands Electricity in 2004.[14] This was merged with the distribution business of East Midlands Electricity and rebranded as Central Networks.[15] The Industrial & Commercial Retail business was rebranded as E.ON UK on 5 July 2004.[16] The creation of the Central Networks business in April 2004 included "a company of E.ON" as part of its logotype. In October 2005 it was also added to the Powergen logotype.
In June 2007, a major advertising campaign entitled "The wind of change", containing advertisements using the E.ON logo, was launched. The campaign featured the Robin Rigg offshore wind farm in the Solway Firth, currently in development. In the consumer market, this was complemented by a replacement of the mostly blue Powergen identity to the red identity of E.ON, and the launch of a new product, Go Green, using electricity from renewable sources and carbon offset gas.
On 22 October 2007, the company announced that the E.ON Energy and Powergen brands would change to E.ON as of 1 November and 3 December 2007 respectively.[17]
In January 2008, E.ON acquired West Midlands-based CHN Group, a provider of heating services to builders, local authorities and housing associations across the region.[18] and in August 2008 completed the purchase of the Street Lighting business lighting projects of ABB Ltd. It intended to improve its existing lighting business by purchasing ABB.[19]
In 2008 and 2009 a number of protests took place at E.ON UK's power station including a Climate Camp at their Kingsnorth power station in August 2008[20] and at their Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in October 2009.
Restructuring
On 20 January 2010, E.ON UK announced the closure of its Rayleigh Customer Service Centre and the loss of 600 jobs.[21] The company was forced to bring forward the announcement by one day after the information was leaked to a local newspaper. This has been criticised as a money-saving exercise by an organisation which has seen an increase in profits of 18% in 2009[22] and news that E.ON UK have made £80 million in profits so far in the financial year 2009/10. Other businesses within E.ON were also affected by these round of job losses, including its IT support and its Highways Lighting operations.
In March 2011, E.ON sold Central Networks to PPL's UK subsidiary Western Power Distribution for £3.5 billion.[23]
In October 2012, E.ON sold its 50% stake in Horizon Nuclear Power to Hitachi for £348 million.
