EDF acquires 90,000 business customers from Drax retail arm

Drax has sold 90,000 business customer meter points from its retail arm Opus Energy to EDF.

The asset sale, Drax said, will “further support its decarbonisation strategy“.

The transaction will see the majority of the Opus SME customer meter points transferred to EDF.

A Drax statement on the London Stock Exchange adds that the sale was agreed following “the completion of a strategic review of the group’s non-core SME energy supply business”.

Opus was acquired by Drax in 2017 in a deal worth £367 million. Over the past seven years elements of the acquired business have been transferred to Drax Energy Solutions, the company’s core industrial & commercial energy supply business.

Those transfers include the renewables business holding the group’s Power Purchase Agreements with renewable generators, and certain other customers.

Drax said that it believes “these measures further support its decarbonisation strategy and the development of its Energy Solutions (Customers) business which is focused on I&C customers, renewable power and energy services”.

The statement adds: “The Energy Solutions business is unaffected by the sale of the Opus SME assets and there is no change to the group’s Energy Solutions EBITDA expectations as a result of this process.”

The transaction is expected to complete in the autumn.

In February last year, Drax confirmed that it would no longer sell gas through Opus to its SME business customers as part of its aims to become a carbon negative generator by 2030.

Earlier this year, Drax announced a pre-tax profit of £796 million for the 12 months ended 31 December 2023, up from £78 million in 2022.

Adjusted EBITDA also increased to £1.21 billion from £731 million the previous year.