Shell PLC (LSE :SHEL, N :SHEL) is currently evaluating the future of its retail energy business, in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. This could put thousands of jobs at risk.
The company is currently conducting a strategic review of its home energy and UK broadband divisions. Ofcom recently criticized the UK for receiving too many complaints (read more).
Shell stated that the review would take approximately three months and no decision has been made on the futures or viability of any of the businesses.
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, energy supplies have been in chaos with prices rising and independent providers going bankrupt.
Shell stated that it needed to invest US$1.5 billion in its UK energy retail business by 2022 to weather the storm.
With 1.4 million customers in the UK, 110,000 in Germany, and 15,000 in The Netherlands, the business has over 1.5mln customers.
The review does not cover the wholesale or business-to-business (B2B), energy supply businesses of the oil giant. It also doesn’t include Australia and the US.
Shell’s domestic energy woes contrast sharply with its upstream operations where profits are expected to reach record levels this year due to the spike in oil prices that has caused all the problems at retail.
In 2018, the FTSE 100 group entered the home market when it purchased First Utility. The name was changed to Shell Energy Retail in the next year.
After Shell took over the broadband customers of the Post Office in 2021, Broadband now has approximately 500,000 customers