By Selina WilliamsConsumer groups were quick to criticize U.K. utility Centrica today, after it announced bumper profits for 2009 at its residential arm British Gas. [Read the statement.]Protesters believe consumers need further price cuts from all the country’s energy suppliers to reflect weaker wholesale gas prices.But the U.K. utility defended its profit margins saying the profits didn’t reflect the huge investments required for the country to keep the lights on while de-carbonizing its electricity sector over the next decade to meet stringent European Union and domestic climate change targets.Energy regulator Ofgem recently estimated that energy companies will need to invest around ￡200 billion over the next 10 to 15 years to replace retiring nuclear and coal power plants with costly low-carbon generation.Centrica CEO Sam Laidlaw also said the U.K. energy market, which is the most liberalized in Europe, was working well enough to deliver to consumers gas and electricity prices that were a third and 15% cheaper respectively than the average in the rest of Europe.However, that wasn’t enough to placate the consumer groups who were shocked by the news that British Gas’ operating profits for 2009 rose nearly 60% to a record ￡595 million from ￡376 million a year earlier.Consumer Focus said the “rude health” enjoyed by British Gas and other energy companies, combined with tumbling wholesale costs, means that the energy companies should now play fair and cut customer bills.Its deputy CEO Philip Cullum said:“Energy companies have no excuses for not cutting bills for their customers. It is clear the problems in the energy market are profound and that it requires fundamental reform.”Ann Robinson,mulberry sale, director of consumer policy at price comparison website uSwitch.com said there was overwhelming evidence that other suppliers would need to cut tariffs. She said:“British Gas has now cut its prices for the third time in 12 months and the fact remains that it is still the only supplier to have reduced prices this year. Whether customers think that is enough of a peace offering remains to be seen, but it’s time for the spotlight to be turned on the remaining five suppliers who are yet to say a word.”Centrica, which cut prices earlier this month and twice last year, is currently the cheapest of the big six energy suppliers in Britain. The average annual household electricity and gas bill in the U.K. is ￡1,158, almost double the ￡606 in 2004.The comments from consumer groups came as Ofgem said Monday that energy suppliers’ profit margins had risen in recent months and urged the country’s big six utilities to pass on the recent falls in wholesale energy costs to customers.However, Laidlaw disputed the figures and said Centrica’s profits are smaller than the much higher margins at other U.K. companies including Marks and Spencer, BT and Vodafone.He said the profit margin–which was 8% in 2009 and is expected to be around 7% in 2010–was reasonable given the investments in infrastructure and electricity generation required over the next decade.As Centrica finance director Nick Luff said:“Five hundred million pounds profit is a big number, but you have to appreciate the scale of what it is we do. You need to make those profits for multiple years before you can afford one new nuclear power plant for example.”By Jamie Miyazaki‘Smart’ electricity grids, which promise to lower the estimated two-thirds of energy lost through transmission and distribution, rely on digital communication. That makes the crucial infrastructure far more vulnerable to cyber-attacks,roger vivier flats, which is driving a boom in cyber-security spending at utilities.This spells increased consolidation by larger companies within the systems integration and IT space, venture capital financing for niche players in IT security with a track record, and potential IPOs of bigger cyber-security firms.“The M&A world is on fire right now when it comes to cyber-security issues relating to utility infrastructure,” says Pat Clawson CEO of Lumension Security Inc.Pike Research, a clean-tech market research firm, expects the global smart grid cyber security market to grow to $4.1 billion in 2013 at a compound annual growth rate of 35%,ugg boots outlet, although it also thinks the market will then decline to $3.7 billion in 2015, as smart grid investment is curtailed by lower government spending.That squares against Morgan Stanley estimates of an 8% compound annual growth rate for the overall global smart grid segment from about $20 billion in 2009 to $100 billion or more by 2030.Big western IT system providers, power technology and defense firms such as IBM, General Electric, ABB, Emerson Electric, Lockheed, Boeing and Raytheon are natural consolidators of smaller niche IT security players.Japanese companies Kyocera Communications, Toshiba Corp., and Fujitsu also have a foot in the door via participation in the cyber security and data communications technology research elements of a pilot smart grid project being conducted collaboratively by the U.S. and Japanese government in New Mexico.Venture capital firms looking for opportunities in Asia should look to South Korea, say Lumension’s Clawson, as it tends to be the best source of small niche IT security companies due to a strong IT culture and poor IPO prospects on Korea’s start-up bourses.A lot of investments will be below $20 million unless a company has an existing product.“Early stage funding for software is hit and miss. You don’t need much outlay to get them up and running. Once they have a proper marketable product then the equity can go through the roof so it’s a little like gambling, unfortunately, but the big IT companies and some defense firms are out there looking for niche companies,” says a private equity professional involved in clean-tech.As far as getting IPOs out of the gate for proven start ups “the bar has moved higher after the recent turbulence in the financial markets. Nowadays you need to be looking at $100 million-$120 million in market cap in the U.S. to be feasible,” Clawson says. “Before it was half that and realistically you want to be having 17-20% Ebitda margins and top line growth of 20% plus to get interest.”The big growth market for smart grids remains Asia and specifically China, which is the world’s biggest government smart-grid spender with about $7.3 billion earmarked for projects in 2010, according to data from Zpryme Research and Consulting.Admittedly, some of the Chinese spend is part of a broader effort to roll out a grid network but funds involved in the Chinese clean tech sector point out the advantage here is that China can easily build ‘smartness’ and the necessary security infrastructure into its grid from the bottom up rather than retrofit it like other nations.Elsewhere in Asia the Japanese, Korean, Australian, Malaysian and Singaporean government are investing in smart grid technologies.

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