Company facts
npower at a glance
RWE npower is a leading integrated UK energy company. We generate electricity and supply gas, electricity and related services customers through our retail business npower. We operate and manage a flexible portfolio of power stations, and also manage a portfolio of cogeneration plant.
To find out more about RWE npower, visit our website.
For more information about RWE and other Group companies, including RWE npower renewables, please visit the RWE website.
History
The npower business was formally created in October 1999 and launched in April 2000. It combines the former electricity and gas supply businesses of MEB, Calortex, MEB Powerline, National Power Energy Direct, Independent Energy, Yorkshire Electricity and Northern Electric and Gas.
For further information about our history, visit the RWE npower website.
Offices and Management
npower’s head office and residential teams are based in Oak House at Junction 6 of the M5 near Worcester. Our business division, npower business, is based around the Birmingham area, predominantly in Oldbury and Solihull. Our main customer service centre is based in Peterlee in County Durham.
Key people
Volker Beckers, Group Chief Executive Officer, RWE npower
Volker Beckers was appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer, RWE npower in January 2010. Prior to this, from November 2003, he held the position of Group Chief Financial Officer, RWE npower.
Before joining RWE npower, he was Vice President Corporate Controlling and Development at RWE Net AG in Dortmund and from February 2003 was also responsible for Organisational Development. Before that, he held several senior positions at RWE Energie AG in different parts of the energy value chain. His last position before the merger with VEW Energie AG was Head of Controlling business unit grid in Essen.
After graduating from Cologne University with a master’s degree in business administration, he worked for Compunet Computer AG (later General Electric, Capital Services) as Head of Education Centre and then moved to the management consultancy part of the business as Division Manager responsible for Project Management Methods and IT Development Projects.
In addition to his role at RWE npower, Volker Beckers is Deputy Head of the Executive Commercial Management Committee at BDEW (German Association of Energy and Water Industries) and also represents the German companies at Eurelectric's "Finance & Economics" Focus Group.
Kevin Miles, CEO of npower Retail
Kevin was Retail Director at Yorkshire Electricity on the Supply Companies Board heading its Residential Markets. Prior to this at Yorkshire he was Customer Services Director. In April 2000 he joined npower and led the Integration Programme (integrating recently acquired Yorkshire Electricity & Northern Electric into npower), becoming Integration Director, and also acting as MD for Northern Electric on acquisition. By 2001 Kevin took responsibility for npower’s Information System developments and then its Customer Services directorate before being appointed Managing Director of the residential business in January 2003, where his responsibilities included Sales, Products, Customer Contact and Customer Relations. From January 2008 Kevin became CEO of npower Retail.
Giuseppe Di Vita, Managing Director of Retail Markets
Giuseppe's biography is coming soon.
Chris Johnson, Managing Director of Retail Operations
Chris joined npower in January 2003 as Director of Operations. A graduate chemist, Chris previously worked for Thames Water. On joining Thames Water in 1995, Chris held a variety of roles including managing the water supply operations. In 2001 Chris led the successful bid for Welsh Water's outsourcing of customer services and was appointed customer services director at Thames in April 2001. In addition he was also programme director for IT investment in customer systems. Chris is responsible for npower back office customer operations, IS design, support and development activities as well as business wide roles on infrastructure services and integration.
Simon Stacey, Retail Finance Director
Simon began his career with accountants PwC before moving to The Harpur Group where he was the Group Financial Controller, with worldwide responsibility for all accounting and reporting issues. In 1998, he took on the role of Group Financial Controller for National Power where he initially worked on management information before working on the demerger strategy. Following the demerger, he joined the successor company Innogy plc, and he has been the npower group Group Financial Controller since 2002, working on a wide range of projects and initiatives in conjunction with RWE. In July 2008 Simon was appointed as the Finance Director of npower Retail.
Jens Madrian, Managing Director of Commercial
Jens' biography is coming soon.
Julia Lynch-Williams, Director of Energy Services
Julia's biography is coming soon.
Information about the RWE npower management team can be found on our website
For further information contact the npower press office on 0845 070 2807 or contact us by email at press.office@npower.com.
