Lost 1990s Electricity Share Certificates

christopheros00

Hello All,

Back at the start of the 1990s I purchased share certificates in all the privatised electricity companies.

Having worked overseas and moved house on a number of occasions I am unable to get my hands on the share certificates, although I continue in my search.

I've contacted Equiniti, who have on record that I purchased shares in two electricity companies (Northern Electric and United Utilities, formerly Norweb). However Equiniti do not have records of any of my other holdings for the other electricity companies where in 1990 I purchased shares in these companies. The electricity companies that I purchased was:

Eastern Electricity
East Midlands Electricity
London Electricity
Midlands Electricity
Seeboard
Southern
SWALEC
SWEB
Yorkshire Electricity

Having not located the share certificates as yet, can anyone advise me on what I should do to claim these shares or get their cash value? With the exception of Northern Electric and United Utilities, Equiniti have informed me that they do not have the records for the other electricity shares companies.

I was astonished by this response which has made me feel that my old investment has today vanished, even though I am sure that none of the electricity companies have gone bankrupt.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated as I am looking to put down a deposit towards a flat and this money would be most useful.

Thank you in advance for any information or help.

Christopher

bigadaj

Virtually all of them have been bought out or taken over so you might need to do some tracing and detective work. Eon and npower are big players as is edf, the two former being German and the latter French.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

you could use Wikipedia to get some information on each company, here's an example for Eastern Electricity, which tells you it was taken over by Powegen, (now E.ON).

Then search E.ON to find out how to contact them regarding share register.

You've a wee bit of work to do.

Owain_Moneysaver

Equiniti aren't necessarily the Registrars for all the companies, you will have to find who the Registrar is for each company.

For E ON see
https://www.eonenergy.com/About-eon/our-company/contact-us/shares-pensions

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

christopheros00 wrote: »

Hello All,

Back at the start of the 1990s I purchased share certificates in all the privatised electricity companies.

Having worked overseas and moved house on a number of occasions I am unable to get my hands on the share certificates, although I continue in my search.

I've contacted Equiniti, who have on record that I purchased shares in two electricity companies (Northern Electric and United Utilities, formerly Norweb). However Equiniti do not have records of any of my other holdings for the other electricity companies where in 1990 I purchased shares in these companies. The electricity companies that I purchased was:


East Midlands Electricity

Having not located the share certificates as yet, can anyone advise me on what I should do to claim these shares or get their cash value? With the exception of Northern Electric and United Utilities, Equiniti have informed me that they do not have the records for the other electricity shares companies.

I was astonished by this response which has made me feel that my old investment has today vanished, even though I am sure that none of the electricity companies have gone bankrupt.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated as I am looking to put down a deposit towards a flat and this money would be most useful.

Thank you in advance for any information or help.

Christopher

Hi Christopher

The East Midlands Electricity Board (EMEB) was taken over by Powergen who then became part of E.ON.

Information about shares in the EMEB is looked after for us by a specialist company. If you drop an email to the address in my Profile, I'll be happy to put you in touch with them.

Hope this helps.

Malc

christopheros00

Hello All,

Many thanks for your useful comments and recommendations. Based on them, I have carried out research to find out who the companies now belong to. As many of you have informed me, they have all been sold off to overseas investors.

I have located some (not all) of my old original share certificates and have e-mailed the companies that each of them relate to. The companies I have e-mailed are:

EDF - Formerly London Electricity plc
SSE - Formerly South Wales Electricity plc
Scottish Power - Formerly Manweb
Npower - Formerly Yorkshire Electricity
Powergen - Formerly East Midlands Electricity

EDF were the only company that got in touch. I was on the telephone for nearly two hours on Thursday, and to be honest, they were friendly but in the end not very helpful with the information provided. Not intentionally, EDF provided me with dud 0800 telephone numbers to call that are no longer used. I finally spoke to someone who suggested that I contact their French parent company BNP Paribas. I am still waiting for them to get back to me, but I am not hopeful at this stage. None of the other companies have yet replied, so watch this space...

christopheros00

I have e-mailed Malc who works for EON. EON now own what was once East Midland Electricity plc shares. Hope that this thread is useful to other investors who have old electricity shares when they were floated in the early 1990s.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi christopheros00

Sorry I wasn't around when you emailed. I can see Helena picked this up and has replied.

Hope all's ok.

Malc

christopheros00

Hi All,

The saga continues.. in relation to South Wales Electricity plc shares that I own, I have been in touch with both SSE who I believe took over from this company and Capita registrars, but both have pointed me back to each other so I appear to be going around in circles trying to find out who now owns and is responsible for South Wales Electricity plc. Have also tried Welsh Water, but they appear to be clueless.

SEGould

I too am having trouble trying to sort out these shares. My mum died leaving me various shares but these are the only ones I am having trouble with and going around in circles. I rang the registra noted at the bottom of the share certificates who directed me to Capita. I rang Capita who said these were taken over by Welsh Water at the time called Hyder but then this company was taken over and they advised me to ring a company called RVS who dealt with the take over. RVS could not help and directed me to Ofgem who when I rang had no idea what I was on about and asked me to ring Citizens Advice which I did, but they were no help what so ever. All I am trying to find out is 1) are these shares worth anything? 2) was my mother entitled to compensation re: take over and if so do they have any record of the pay out to her? 3) if the shares are still valid then how hold of the company in order to get them transferred over to myself. Can anyone help. It seems the company was taken over but no one what to assist any further and just wants to pass you on to other people.

Reaper

SEGould wrote: »

1) are these shares worth anything? 2) was my mother entitled to compensation re: take over and if so do they have any record of the pay out to her? 3) if the shares are still valid then how hold of the company in order to get them transferred over to myself.

It's a bit hard to find solid info but from what I can find Hyder was bought by Western Power Distribution for 365p per share and then broken up. I believe the offer money would have been paid out to your mother and the share certificates are now worthless.