By Aby Jose Koilparambil
(Reuters) - The chief of Britain's National Grid (LON:NG) said on Thursday that urgent policy and regulatory reforms are needed for the country to hit its energy transition target, after the utility firm posted a 15% jump in annual profit.
National Grid, which runs Britain's energy systems and operates electricity and gas business in New York and Massachusetts, posted profit of 4.58 billion pounds ($5.78 billion) for the year ended March 31.
Profit was boosted by strength in its U.S. businesses and a higher contribution from its National Grid Ventures unit, which includes the interconnector business.
National Grid earlier this week set out priority areas to drive the net zero energy transition and on Thursday CEO John Pettigrew told Reuters the government and regulators need to act with "boldness and pace".
Britain is scaling up renewable power generation such, as wind and solar, with a target to decarbonise electricity supplies by 2035 to reduce reliance on imported gas.
It has a target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and is also seeking to improve its energy independence after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices to record highs.
The company said it expects its fiscal 2024 underlying earnings to be modestly below the year-ago level after the UK government changed its capital allowance regime from April 1.
The FTSE 100 firm recommended a final dividend of 37.60 pence, taking the full-year payout to 55.44 pence - up 8.8% year-on-year.
($1 = 0.7923 pounds)
(This story has been corrected to say that the company operates electricity and gas business in New York and Massachusetts, not a gas franchise in New York City and Long Island in paragraph 2)