On March 18, 2021, National Grid (Headquarters: London, U.K.) and PPL Corp. (Headquarters: Allentown, Pennsylvania) announced two agreements that the companies claim will help them better align their assets with their clean energy strategies.[1][2] PPL will sell its U.K. utility business, Western Power Distribution (WPD), to National Grid for $10.9 billion. WPD is comprised of four electricity distribution companies that serve 7.9 million customers in central and southwest England and south Wales. In a separate transaction, National Grid will sell its Rhode Island utility, Narragansett Electric Company, for an equity value of $3.8 billion. Narragansett Electric is the largest electricity transmission and distribution service in Rhode Island, serving roughly 780,000 customers. As a part of the announcement, National Grid says it will also initiate a sales process for a majority stake in its National Grid Gas Transmission business in the U.K. The transactions follow an August 2020 press release in which PPL announced that it planned to sell WPD in order to shift its focus to U.S. utility investments and clean energy investments to improve share value.[3] National Grid says the “increased exposure” to the U.K.’s electricity sector will allow that company to take “a more holistic approach” and help the UK’s net zero ambitions.[4]

[1] https://www.nationalgridus.com/News/2021/03/The-Narragansett-Electric-Company-to-join-PPL-Corporation-/

[2] https://pplweb.mediaroom.com/2021-03-18-PPL-Corporation-to-sell-U-K-utility-business-to-National-Grid-and-acquire-National-Grids-Rhode-Island-utility-strategically-repositioning-PPL-as-a-high-growth-U-S-focused-energy-company

[3] https://pplweb.mediaroom.com/2020-08-10-PPL-Corporation-Launches-Process-to-Sell-U-K-Business-Reposition-Itself-as-U-S-Focused-Utility-Company

[4] https://www.nationalgrid.com/repositioning-national-grids-portfolio