Activities ESCS business areas carry out
These are some of the main activities carried out by the different business areas of ESCS.
1. Upstream
There are the core activities the Upstream thermal generation team manages:
- Operation of Cottam and West Burton power stations
- Supply chain for coal and biomass
- Generation forecasting
- Hedging
- Managing the lifetime strategy of these assets
- Identification and delivery of capital projects to support our strategy
Generation forecasting means determining the periods when the plant is expected to run profitably based on forward market energy prices. Hedging means reducing our exposure to the volatility of wholesale energy market prices.
Major projects include planning for the West Burton Combined Cycle Gas Turbine generation plant in 2010/11 and integrating the Combined Heat and Power and District Energy assets within Upstream.
2. Optimisation
This team carries out the following core activities:
- Developing and delivering hedging strategies to maximise gross margin of our combined portfolio, within the limits of the risk-appetite of our company
- Managing the output from our nuclear portfolio, including understanding uncertainties that exist around the forecast output
- Managing the relationship with EDF Trading and performing the majority of ESCS trading via this route
- Securing trades with external counterparties, when appropriate to do so
- Short term hedging
- Building quantitative models, portfolio analysis and a market overview to inform the whole ESCS team
3. Business to Business
The main purpose of this team, is to profitably supply energy to British businesses, maximising every aspect of the way we deliver energy to increase our returns. This involves managing the following responsibilities:
- Marketing and Sales
- Customer Services
- Pricing
- Hedging
- Billing and debt collection
The needs of our business customers are central to everything we do because by putting them first, we’ll stay one step-ahead of our competitors. That means delivering excellent customer service, at competitive prices, minimising our cost base and developing innovative products and services.
4. Business to Customer
This team is responsible for all activities associated with the provision of services to our residential customer base. The core activities include:
- Determining how much energy our residential customers will use
- Purchasing the necessary energy in the most effective way
- Setting prices for our residential customer base
- Marketing and Sales
- Customer Services
We aim to provide our residential customers with great services whether it is over the telephone or in their home.
5. Finance
The Finance teams ensure that ESCS meets its financial targets and has the right forms of governance in place. At the same time, it aims to provide quality and timely financial information to support effective and profitable business decisions. Core activities include:
- Reporting
- Planning and forecasting
- Settlements
- Risk control
- Financial support for key business decisions
- Governance & internal control
6. Human Resources and Safety
This team looks after a broad range of people-related activities, providing support to the operating divisions within ESCS. Areas of responsibility include:
- Occupational health support
- Recruitment
- Training
- Rewards
- Communications
- Professional development
ESCS continually invests in the development of its people, rewards them appropriately and helps them to succeed. This is what an Investor in People company, like EDF Energy, is committed to doing.
The human resources and safety team works closely with EDF Energy Corporate, as well as EDF Group, to share best practise investment
7. Strategy and Investment
The primary activity of this team is establishing energy assets that will provide sustainable competitive advantage. This is done through asset procurement and development. The scope of activities includes:
- Looking at the market 40 years ahead, defining the demands that will be placed on our portfolio and assessing how existing assets will operate
- Managing a portfolio of gas, electricity and renewable assets
- Procuring and developing physical assets and alternatively financial contracts and service infrastructure where appropriate
- Market knowledge and strategy
- Delivering investment projects from concept to commissioning
8. Transformation
To succeed in a competitive marketplace, we need to continually evaluate the shape of our business and how it performs, and what it takes to be provider of choice for residential and business customers. This team is focused on delivering the transformational changes necessary to help ESCS beat its competitors.