LONDON, March 3, 2026, 19:49 GMT
- ScottishPower chief Keith Anderson warned UK offshore wind auction rules are rewarding “riskier” bids over consented projects
- Government AR7 results list RWE-backed Dogger Bank South among winners as ScottishPower’s East Anglia ONE North misses out
- A Guardian report detailed a family’s months-long fight to redirect legacy solar feed-in tariff payments after a death
ScottishPower chief executive Keith Anderson has criticised the UK’s latest offshore wind subsidy round, arguing that rule changes are encouraging developers to bid before projects have planning consent — a shift he says raises the odds of delays and non-delivery. 1
The row matters because Britain is leaning heavily on offshore wind as it tries to hit a 2030 clean-power goal, while keeping a lid on bills. The support mechanism is the Contracts for Difference scheme — a government-backed contract that guarantees a “strike price” for power, with top-ups or paybacks depending on market prices. 2
Allocation Round 7 (AR7) offered contracts to a slate of offshore wind projects, including RWE’s Dogger Bank South East and Dogger Bank South West and the Norfolk Vanguard East and West units, according to the government’s published results. ScottishPower’s planned East Anglia ONE North is not listed among successful applicants. 3
ScottishPower Renewables describes East Anglia ONE North as part of its East Anglia Hub and says the project was consented in March 2022 alongside East Anglia TWO. The company lists it as an 800-megawatt development off the coast of Suffolk. 4
Anderson has said ScottishPower’s frustration is less about losing and more about the auction structure, describing his project as “shovel-ready” and warning that letting firms bid before consents and supply chains are locked in “runs the risk that the projects won’t get delivered”. He also pointed to Danish rival Ørsted, saying it had previously bid “on the speculative basis” for a Hornsea project before pulling out. 5
Ministers took a different view when AR7 was announced in January, calling it a record offshore wind round and saying it secured 8.4 gigawatts of capacity. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the results showed Britain was “taking back control of our energy sovereignty”, while RWE chief Markus Krebber said the group had secured long-term offtake contracts for five projects in AR7. 6
The dispute comes as ScottishPower faces fresh scrutiny on its retail-facing operations. The UK’s legacy Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) scheme — which pays small generators for electricity they produce and export — was designed to boost take-up of renewables and closed to new applicants in 2019, but existing accredited installations still receive payments via participating suppliers, regulator Ofgem says. 7
The Guardian on Monday reported a case in which a family said ScottishPower repeatedly contacted a deceased customer and delayed switching FiT payments from a late father’s account to his widow’s, after solar panels were bought jointly in 2011. The paper said ScottishPower eventually paid arrears and agreed £300 compensation; a company spokesperson told the Guardian: “We’re deeply sorry for the experience the family has had with us.” 8
In separate local reporting, the St Helens Star said some households in St Helens had received a Scottish Power message about a planned power outage. https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/25902872.st-helens---scottish-power-message-planned-outage-set/
Planned interruptions are routine for network operators doing maintenance and upgrade work, and SP Energy Networks — the operator in parts of Scotland as well as Merseyside, Cheshire and north Wales — says it aims to give customers at least five days’ notice if it needs to interrupt supply. 9
But the bigger risk for the wind pipeline is time. Even contracted projects still need to clear planning, lock in turbines and vessels, and secure grid connections — and any slippage could leave Britain short of the capacity it is banking on for the end of the decade.
For ScottishPower, the clash over auction rules and the blowback on customer service land at the same moment: it is trying to push new wind farms into construction while still cleaning up basic processes that touch households.
