National Grid Share Discussion Threads

[blobby] 04/12/2013 09:15

ex dividend today (14p) so price holding up quite well.

[tonio] 03/12/2013 11:51

Poor old National Grid seem to have got it in the neck today as the press seize on the use of the word 'luxury' by a director. Perhaps he was just rattled by the governments casual announcement that power companies would be paying less in transmission costs to contribute to the £50 customer cashback. At the same time the chairman of the energy (and climate change) select committee is baying for NG's blood. Not happy days. It is though a tragedy that it is the government that has treated electricity as a luxury during the past 20 years or so by failing to set in place (and act on) any sensible plans for power generation now and in the future.
Anyway with ex-div day coming up NGs share price looks like it is in for a bit of a hammering.

[2hoggy] 02/12/2013 11:37

The writing has been on the wall for years.

But the politicians dont listen.

They carry on fiddling while rome burns as so to speak!

[pierre oreilly] 02/12/2013 11:15

Hi Newbank - well, I wasn't advocating cutting costs by relaxing regulation, just stating the fact that it's very easy to cut costs in that way. As you point out, powercuts are expensive things, not only in financial terms, but also in human terms (and ultimately in defence terms). We have the best supply network in the world, best to keep it that way imv. Unfortunately, we are heading in the opposite direction, even with no distribution cuts!

Interestingly, today on R4, it was reported that NGC have simply returned to the government their request for ideas on how to cut costs. Basically, it's a political decision, the politicians must say how much they want ngc to spend on our supply (indirectly via the operational parameters), and ngc will give them the most reliable supply possible with the amount they want spent. But obviously, the less they spend (on things like contracted reserve), the greater the risk of powercuts (and vv, there's a compromise somewhere which is basically a political decision). Even at constant transmission costs, the system risk is increasing anyhow, and the chance of powercts growing as the generation 'mix' changes.

To cut consumer bills, it seems clear to me that the government should cut green loadings and examine the Suppliers pricing and accounting methods, where the energy they sell is bought from generators owned by the same holding company, so high profits can be loaded onto the generator business by 'artificially' high input prices to the supplier business. This is hidden since suppliers are perversely allowed to report as a segregated business.

Off topic a bit, but I agree with Milliband that the energy market is 'broken'. This due, imv, to the central idea of privatisation being abandoned - then ideas was to introduce competition by splitting the industry up into separate market participants. Some years back, generators were allowed to buy suppliers, and hence any advantage of competition was then lost in the (once again) integrated businesses. Add in 'green' imperatives, and we end up with what we currently have - very expensive electricity and a less reliable supply. It won't be long before we have planned powercuts at peak demand times.

[zastas] 28/11/2013 13:33

Thanks P O, one of the most knowledgeable clear-headed posts I have seen for some time. If only the average voter would be the same!

[pierre oreilly] 28/11/2013 12:07

It's easy to cut the cost of transmission - just relax the regulation on various operational parameters NGC has to work to. Problem with doing that is that you have less system security, therefore higher chances of power cuts here and there. In fact, transmission costs have to rise (for the same system security) due to both the addition of intermittent generation (like windmills and solar), and the closure of reliable generation (like the closures coming over the next couple of years of coal and Nuke stations). In fact, there comes a point when the penetration of intermittent relative to reliable means that the system security cannot be maintained at traditional levels whatever measures are taken.

To cut transmission costs (or even to maintain them at current levels) means not adding any more intermittent generation. Unless other costs rise to compensate for that intermittency, then we have a less secure system (meaning more power cuts). So if a diktat comes from ministers to cut transmission costs (as well it might) then make sure you have plenty of petrol for your little Honda camping generators.

[septimus quaid] 28/11/2013 08:54

If the energy companies are compelled to formulate long term investment strategies based on the vagaries of the latest media frenzy then, as far as is this country is concerned, it is game over.

[billy_buffin] 28/11/2013 08:33

'Ministers mull ways to cut energy bills' bbc

amongst other ways is:
'Regulations could also be changed so the the cost of transmitting energy, which makes up about 20% of an average bill, could be cut.'

A threat?

[onlyonestorm] 27/11/2013 09:06

Hang on in there!!

Stormy :-)

[micos] 27/11/2013 08:26

Thanks, tormy. 1 week out.

[onlyonestorm] 27/11/2013 08:24

Nope, 4/12!!

Stormy

[micos] 27/11/2013 08:23

Is today not the XD day?

[septimus quaid] 26/11/2013 19:29

Hmm, 11pc fall, hard to see how this could arise in such a tightly run/regulated business.

[miata] 26/11/2013 18:23

Post 2925 spelled it out.

The results reported last week showed an 11pc fall in pre-tax profits for the six months ended September.

[adelwire2] 26/11/2013 18:11

why are the brokers saying sell?

[miata] 25/11/2013 21:17

Creit Suisse - merely a re-iteration, they have been saying outperform for two years, others think differently.

25-Nov-13 Societe Generale Sell
22-Nov-13 Deutsche Sell
11-Nov-13 Citigroup Neutral
04-Nov-13 AlphaValue Reduce
31-May-13 JP Morgan Cazenove Neutral
23-Apr-13 Bank of America Neutral

[mazarin] 25/11/2013 17:26

Today, I see Credit Suisse issued a Broker Note for NG. and comment 'Out Perform' with a target Price of £8.00.

[bountyhunter] 24/11/2013 14:26

Given the political climate I guess that there is not much incentive for very encouraging trading updates from any of the utilities at the moment - if anything I think that management would be inclined to play things down at least until the next election is over.

[mazarin] 23/11/2013 09:50

Not the most encouraging trading update, I've read recently, but perhaps more promising in the longer term. Its seems I'm not the alone. From the Daily Telegraph's Questor column"....The longer-term investment case is now well supported for this income-generating favourite"

[spacecake] 21/11/2013 08:48

Web Cast Presentation link

hxxp://streamstudio.world-television.com/CCUIv3/registration.aspx?ticket=786-1014-13525&target=en-default-&status=preview&browser=ns-0-0-0-11-0

[a0148009] 21/11/2013 08:04

These will be useful if you have time :-

Live telephone coverage of the analyst presentation at 09:15 (GMT)


UK dial in number + 44 (0) 808 109 0700 US dial in number [phone]
Confirmation National Grid
Code


In addition, John Dawson, Head of Investor Relations, will host a conference call with Q&A at 1400 (GMT) this afternoon for those unable to take part in the earlier presentation.

Dial in information for the 14:00 (GMT) call


UK dial in number [phone] US dial in number [phone]
Confirmation National Grid
Code

[lord gnome] 21/11/2013 07:44

Deutsche Bank are both right and wrong - depending on which set of figures you want to accept. As usual, I find these announcements designed to confuse the average punter.Do we look at the Business Performance column or the Statutory Results column? One says one thing and the other seems to be saying something rather different. I dare say the action of the market will let me know which is which.