National Grid plc

Type	Public (LSE: NG.)
Founded	1990
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Key people	Sir John Parker, Chairman Steve Holliday, Chief Executive
Industry	Utilities
Products	Electricity and Gas Transmission and Gas Distribution
Revenue	£15,624 million (2009)
Operating income	£2,623 million (2009)
Net income	£947 million (2009)
Employees	27,577 (2008)
Website	www.nationalgrid.com

A National Grid van working in central England

National Grid plc (LSE: NG.) is an international, London-based utilities company which also operates in other countries, principally its wholly owned subsidiary in the United States. The company adopted its current name in July 2005 when shareholders agreed the change from National Grid Transco plc. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

[edit] History

[edit] Former CEGB

In 1990, the transmission activities of the Central Electricity Generating Board were transferred to the National Grid Company plc, which was owned by the 12 Regional Electricity Companies (RECs) through a holding company, National Grid Group plc. In 1995, shares in this holding company were listed on the stock exchange.^[1] Within a year, most of the RECs had disposed of their interests.

[edit] Acquisitions

In 2000, National Grid Group acquired New England Electric System^[2] and Eastern Utilities Associates.^[3]

In January 2002, National Grid Group acquired Niagara Mohawk Holdings, Inc, a New York State utility.^[4]

[edit] Merger with Transco

In October of the same year, National Grid Group merged with Lattice Group plc, owner of Transco - the UK gas distribution business (Lattice demerged from BG Group in 2000).^[5] National Grid Group changed its name to National Grid Transco plc.

In 2004, National Grid Transco agreed to sell four of its regional gas distribution networks. The total cash consideration was £5.8 billion. NGT kept ownership of other four distribution networks, which comprise almost half of Great Britain's gas distribution network.^[6]

In 2005, National Grid Transco was renamed National Grid plc.^[7] On July 26, 2005 National Grid Company was renamed National Grid Electricity Transmission plc and on October 10, 2005 Transco was renamed National Grid Gas plc.

[edit] Further acquisitions

In February 2006, National Grid announced that it had agreed to buy KeySpan Corporation,^[8] a gas distributor and electricity producer in the United States, for $7.3bn (£4.1bn) in cash. Around the same time, National Grid also announced the acquisition of the Southern Union Company subsidiary, New England Gas Company in Rhode Island.^[9] The acquisitions of the two natural gas delivery companies materially doubled the size of National Grid's American subsidiary, creating the second largest utility in the United States with over 8 million customers.

The acquisition of KeySpan was completed on August 24, 2007 following government and regulatory approval and endorsement by the shareholders of the two companies.^[10]

[edit] Operations

[edit] UK

• National Grid Electricity Transmission plc (formerly National Grid Company)
  Owns and operates the National Grid high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales. Since April 1, 2005 it also operates the electricity transmission network in Scotland (although this is still owned by Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern Energy).
• National Grid Gas plc (formerly Transco)
  Owns and operates the gas transmission network (from terminals to distributors), known as the National Transmission System (NTS), and four distribution networks (from national network to customers): North West of England, East of England (which is split into 2 areas - East Anglia & East Midlands), West Midlands and London; the distribution networks were former regional divisions of British Gas.

A portion of the Art Deco Niagara-Mohawk Power building facade, Syracuse, New York

[edit] USA

• National Grid USA
  The utility operates over 9,000 miles of electricity transmission and delivers electricity and natural gas to areas of the Northeast states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, serving over 3.3 million customers with electrical power and 3.4 million customers with natural gas.^[11] National Grid USA is currently headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts but will be moving to a 300,000-square-foot LEED certified "green" headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts.^[11] The US subsidiary carries out its business through a number of subsidiary companies (all doing business as "National Grid"). The main ones are:
  • New England Power Company;
  • Massachusetts Electric Company (in Massachusetts);
  • Nantucket Electric (in Massachusetts);
  • The Narragansett Electric Company (in Rhode Island);
  • Granite State Electric Company (in New Hampshire);
  • Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation (in New York State);
  • The Brooklyn Union Gas Company (in New York City);
  • KeySpan Gas East Corporation (on Long Island, NY);
  • Boston Gas Company (in Massachusetts);
  • Colonial Gas Company (in Massachusetts); and
  • EnergyNorth Natural Gas, Inc (in New Hampshire).

[edit] See also

• National Grid (UK)
• European Transmission System Operators
• Energy policy of the United Kingdom
• Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
• Scotia Gas Networks

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Corporate site
• UK site
• US site
• Yahoo profile

[edit] Video clips

• American commercial

Companies portal