Richard Somerville

Electricity North West

Richard Somerville, general counsel at Electricity North West, navigated one of his busiest years in 2019 since joining the energy supplier nearly a decade ago.

He managed the elongated process of the distributor’s 50 per cent stake sale to a consortium made up of Japanese Kansai Electric Power, Chinese state-owned international investment company CNIC and London-based energy and infrastructure investor Equitix, completed at the end of 2019.

Last year was also marked by the refinancing of a £200m facility, and two retenders done for the first time since 2010, including of the onshoring of the company’s offshore IT support and its largest outsourcing contract, for the construction of underground assets, worth £400m.

This year, Somerville will be focusing on the start of the bidding process for owning the electricity network in the North West of the country from 2023 to 2028, which is set to expand to cover terrain from Manchester to Scotland, together with pushing forward ENW’s zero-carbon initiative.