Drax Group
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| Public (: ) | |
| Industry | Electrical power generation |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Drax, North Yorkshire, England |
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Key people
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Phil Cox CBE, Chairman Dorothy Thompson, Chief Executive |
| Products | Electrical power and byproducts of power product |
| Revenue | £2,949.8 million (2016) |
| £203.5 million (2016) | |
| £197.1 million (2016) | |
| Website | www.drax.com |
Drax Group plc is a British electrical power generation company. The Group is made up of upstream and downstream enterprises. The principal downstream enterprises are based in the UK and include Drax Power Limited, which runs Europe’s biggest biomass-fuelled power station, Drax power station, near Selby in North Yorkshire – the UK’s largest decarbonisation project, as well as supplying between 7-8 per cent of the country’s electricity needs. Related businesses include Haven Power, a supplier of electricity (including sustainable biomass energy) to business, and Billington Bioenergy, a supplier of sustainable wood pellets for domestic biomass energy systems. The group’s largest upstream enterprises are Drax Biomass, which sources sustainable biomass for Drax power station and Baton Rouge Transit, which handles storage and transport of finished biomass pellets from the Port of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The company is listed on the and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
In 1990, the electricity industry of England and Wales was privatised under the Electricity Act 1989. Three generating companies and 12 regional electricity companies were created. As a result of privatisation, Drax Power Station came under the ownership of National Power, one of the newly formed generating companies. Over the years that followed privatisation, the map of the industry changed dramatically. One significant change was the emergence of vertically integrated companies, combining generation, distribution and supply interests. In certain cases, it became necessary for generation assets to be divested, and so in 1999 Drax Power Station was acquired by the US-based AES Corporation for £1.87 billion (US$3 billion). A partial re-financing of Drax was completed in 2000, with £400 million of senior bonds being issued by AES Drax Holdings, and £267 million of subordinated debt issued by AES Drax Energy.
Increased competition, over-capacity and new trading arrangements contributed to a significant drop in wholesale electricity prices, which hit an all-time low in 2002. Many companies experienced financial problems, and Drax Power Station’s major customer went into administration, triggering financial difficulties for Drax. Following a series of standstill agreements with its creditors, the AES Corporation and Drax parted company in August 2003. During the restructuring, a number of bids were received from companies wishing to take a stake in the ownership of Drax, but creditors voted overwhelmingly to retain their interest in Drax. In December 2003, the restructuring was completed and Drax came under the ownership of a number of financial institutions.
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