United Utilities reveals £100m solar plan

UNITED Utilities, the water company, hailed a “good set of financial results” despite a fall in half year profits.

The Warrington-based group, the North West’s biggest company by market value, said it would be investing £800m in the region this year – including £100m on solar energy schemes to drive its own sustainability.

Solar panels will be installed on top of buildings UU owns, on vacant land, and even on platforms on a reservoir, the company said.

As a result of a stricter price cap imposed by regulator Ofwat, UU’s revenues were down £2m at £857m in the six months to October. Pre-tax profits fell £17m to £205m as a result of the regulatory price cap, higher depreciation and other costs, including a £25m hit as a result of a water quality incident over the summer, where 300,000 properties were advised to boil water before drinking it.

Chief executive Steve Mogford said the incident was “disappointing” given the strong progress the company has been making to improve customer service and satisfaction.

“We put an enormous amount of effort in to resolve it. We are continuing to work closely with the Drinking Water Inspectorate, who are investigating the incident and will report on it in due course.”

There has been no official comment on the source of the cryptosporidium contamination, but it has been reported that the culprit was a dead pheasant in a pipe at or near the Franklaw Water Treatment plant near Garstang.

Mogford said UU’s strong performance during the 201–15 regulatory period had given the group good momentum for the next five years.

“We were delighted to end last year as one of the top water and wastewater companies, as measured by Ofwat’s recently published KPIs and the Environment Agency’s latest assessment.”

He added: “Our progress over the first six months of this new regulatory period underpins our confidence that our targets remain tough but within reach. We are well placed to deliver further value for customers, shareholders and the environment underpinned by a robust capital structure and good credit ratings.”

 Despite the dip in profits UU raised its dividend to 12.81p per share from 12.56p last year.