25th Feb 2008 07:07
National Grid PLC25 February 2008 25 February 2008 National Grid plc National Grid to appeal Competition Act decision on Metering National Grid plc ("National Grid") is extremely disappointed with the Gas andElectricity Markets Authority's (GEMA) decision that National Grid has infringedthe Competition Act in relation to a number of metering contracts entered intowith gas suppliers in 2004. These contracts were negotiated over a two year period, were voluntarily enteredinto by gas suppliers and delivered immediate and substantial reductions incharges for meter services, saving customers around £120m over the four years oftheir operation. Ofgem was consulted throughout this process of contractdevelopment and negotiation and has acknowledged that National Grid had nointention to breach the Competition Act. We are convinced that the contracts do not infringe competition law andtherefore believe that they should remain in full effect. We also believe thatthe £41.6m fine is wholly inappropriate. We will be lodging an appeal with theCompetition Appeal Tribunal. National Grid's Chief Executive, Steve Holliday, said: "National Grid has been instrumental in helping Ofgem to develop competition inthe UK metering industry, and we strongly believe we have never actedanti-competitively in the development of our contracts. Despite nearly threeyears of exhaustive analysis by Ofgem, we believe there is no evidence thatNational Grid has harmed consumers, competition or gas suppliers, and we areleft with no option but to present our case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal." Contacts Investors David Rees +44 (0)20 7004 3170 +44 (0)7901 511322 (m)George Laskaris +1 718 403 2526 +1 917 375 0989 (m)Richard Smith +44 (0)20 7004 3172 +44 (0)7747 006321 (m) Media Clive Hawkins +44 (0)20 7004 3147 +44 (0)7836 357173 (m)Chris Mostyn +1 718 403 2747 +1 347 702 3740 (m)Gemma Stokes +44 (0)1926 655273 +44 (0) 7974 198333 (m) BrunswickTim Williamson +44 (0)20 7396 5350 +44 (0)20 7404 5959 Additional information National Grid Metering provides regulated gas meter and meter reading serviceson behalf of gas suppliers for an asset base of around 18 million domestic,industrial and commercial meters. National Grid also owns a non-regulated meterbusiness, OnStream, which provides rental, installation, maintenance and meterreading services for gas and electricity meters throughout Great Britain, onbehalf of energy suppliers. Cautionary statement This announcement contains certain statements that are neither reportedfinancial results nor other historical information. These statements areforward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the SecuritiesAct of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,as amended. These statements include information with respect to National Grid'sfinancial condition, National Grid's results of operations and businesses,strategy, plans and objectives. Words such as "anticipates", "expects","intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will", "continue","project" and similar expressions, as well as statements in the future tense,identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are notguarantees of National Grid's future performance and are subject to assumptions,risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results to differmaterially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements.Many of these assumptions, risks and uncertainties relate to factors that arebeyond National Grid's ability to control or estimate precisely, such as delaysin obtaining, or adverse conditions contained in, regulatory approvals andcontractual consents, including those required to complete the proposedacquisition of KeySpan when or as planned, unseasonable weather affecting thedemand for electricity and gas, competition and industry restructuring, changesin economic conditions, currency fluctuations, changes in interest and taxrates, changes in energy market prices, changes in historical weather patterns,changes in laws, regulations or regulatory policies, developments in legal orpublic policy doctrines, the impact of changes to accounting standards andtechnological developments. Other factors that could cause actual results todiffer materially from those described in this announcement include the abilityto integrate the businesses relating to announced acquisitions with our existingbusiness and realise the expected synergies from such integration, theavailability of new acquisition opportunities and the timing and success offuture acquisition opportunities, the impact of the sales of businesses byNational Grid, the failure for any reason to achieve reductions in costs or toachieve operational efficiencies, the failure to retain key management, thebehaviour of UK electricity market participants on system balancing, the timingof amendments in prices to shippers in the UK gas market, the performance ofNational Grid's pension schemes and the regulatory treatment of pension costs,and any adverse consequences arising from outages on or otherwise affectingenergy networks, including gas pipelines, owned or operated by National Grid.For a more detailed description of some of these assumptions, risks anduncertainties, together with any other risk factors, please see National Grid'sfilings with and submissions to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the"SEC") (and in particular the "Risk Factors" and "Operating and FinancialReview" sections in its most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F and the "RiskFactors" section in its Registration Statement on Form F-3 filed with the SEC on28 June 2006). Except as may be required by law or regulation, National Gridundertakes no obligation to update any of its forward-looking statements. Theeffects of these factors are difficult to predict. New factors emerge from timeto time and National Grid cannot assess the potential impact of any such factoron its activities or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors,may cause results to differ materially from those contained in anyforward-looking statement. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
National Grid