Matthew Nunn, EDF Business Solutions Director, reflects on the resilience of 2023 with a look to the year ahead
2023 brought with it many complex challenges for our customers and our industry in general, adding an affordability crisis to global instability and the climate crisis. We continued to see wholesale power prices fall back substantially after reaching unprecedented highs in 2022 but they remained increasingly volatile and higher than historic norms. Sustainability targets remain a critical consideration for many businesses and in 2023 drove record demand for renewable and nuclear power, with REGO (Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin) certificates trading at prices no one could ever have expected. Demand for onsite solar PV also reached new highs as businesses took advantage of very attractive economics.
Despite a challenging market context, I am proud to say that we answered our customers' needs for price predictability, flexibility, and lower carbon solutions to support the overall transition towards Net Zero. We were able to grow our business significantly and to serve a record number of customers in all our core markets.
The team at EDF Business Solutions have never been stronger and it has been a pleasure to expand and welcome new colleagues into the business. Together we’ve made some key achievements and we continue to invest in our people and processes to enable us to serve and support our customers on their journey to Net Zero. We are proud of what we do today, but like many organisations we have also been challenged by the succession of crisis and know there are areas in which we can perform even better – which is something we will certainly focus on in 2024.
Last year we were awarded supplier contracts with both Crown Commercial Service and Scottish Procurement, two of the largest electricity supply agreements in the UK. Our strong relationship for both frameworks spans back over many years and the renewals will see EDF supply electricity and other solutions to central government and much of the public sector including councils, hospitals, and schools.
We continue to work closely with many Channel Partners and always have a focus on improving our quality of service and continuing the growth of these valued partnerships. We were delighted to be recognised for this and ranked 1st out of 19 suppliers in Cornwall Insights 2023 TPI Satisfaction Survey - commended for our customer service and viewed as a very credible and trustworthy energy supplier for their clients.
A core part of EDF is our PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) business, where we continue to be the largest purchaser of renewable electricity from independent UK renewable generators in Great Britain, supporting both large and small projects to get their energy to market. During 2023 we signed a 7 year PPA with the North Kyle onshore wind farm located in Scotland to offtake 100% of its renewable energy with a capacity of 220.5MW expecting to generate 630GWh of clean renewable energy for UK consumers, and in 2024 we have more PPA deals to announce soon.
EDF Business Solutions is also leading the way in Corporate PPA's, structuring agreements between Corporate clients and our group company EDF Renewables UK & Ireland and other independent generators, with 5 large agreements concluded in 2023. This is a very exciting market that will play a very important role in the journey to Net Zero and throughout 2024 we’ll be concluding many more agreements to ensure that UK businesses get the access to the clean and affordable energy that they need.
Our Metering team delivered MOP (Meter Operator) services to over 100k MPANS during 2023 (a new record for our business), and in this new year a key aim will be to work with the remaining customers who haven’t yet upgraded to a Half Hourly, AMR or SMART meter, as we know that doing this will bring significant benefits to our customers, including energy savings and better more accurate billing and data.
Our EDF Group companies have allowed us to create value for business customers by offering a wide range of business solutions that suit all needs. Alongside other products and services, Solar PV has been a fundamental part of our offering and last year we welcomed SAS Energy to the EDF group, an established provider of solar energy generation at business customer sites. This exciting Solar PV acquisition will further strengthen our position as a market-leading provider of energy and Net Zero solutions to commercial, industrial, and public sector customers.
2023 was also a big year for EDF as we celebrated our silver anniversary and 25 years since EDF entered the UK energy market. Today we remain Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity and the leader in helping our customers decarbonise. Last year alone we operated 1GW of renewable energy with a further 8GW in planning and development and generated 37.3TWh of nuclear power to homes and businesses across the UK. We're also constructing the UK’s first nuclear power plant in a generation at Hinkley.
Whilst there’s been many achievements, there’s still more to be done, and collectively a need to accelerate our progress on the journey to Net Zero. I was pleased to be invited to join my colleague Stephen parker and record a Podcast with the Energyst last year, and in this we outlined our thoughts on the future of energy, with a specific focus on the role that can be played by UK businesses.
I’d like to finish by saying that 2024 will no doubt bring us more challenges and surprises, but I feel there are many reasons to feel positive and excited about the future. We’ll continue to focus on growth, expanding into new markets, and strengthening our business further to enable us to deliver efficient operations, an outstanding customer experience and support our customers on their journey to Net Zero
Looking forward to the year ahead.
