Chapter 481 Electricity and power grids, the beginning of a monopoly
After returning home, Abigail was worried and relieved to see that William was unharmed. However, the girl was probably really frightened and kept holding William's arm and wouldn't let go.
However, this also allowed William, who had been tense all morning, to relax and make a video call to his mother in Oxford to report that he was safe.
When Lina saw her son appearing in the manor, she let go of her worries. She also rarely ignored Abigail, who was clinging to William's side and wouldn't let go.
Before the video ended, Lina ordered Gale to keep an eye on William from now on and not to step out of the manor, otherwise Lina would drive Gale away when she returns to London.
After receiving the order from the big boss, Abigail nodded in agreement. After the video call ended, she looked at William with a victorious expression on her face, "From now on, you have to listen to me, my dear."
"Okay, okay, I'll listen to you." He glared at the smiling Abigail, fell down on the sofa, and pretended to be weak, "I'm hungry, help me prepare something to eat."
"I won't be fooled by you." Abigail took out her mobile phone with a smile and pressed the number of the manor's cook. It kept beeping for a long time, but the call could not be made.
"Are you a fool?" William looked at the confused Abigail in a funny way, "There is a blackout in London right now, and the signal receiving towers are all out of service. It's strange that the phone can be made. Don't be nagging, hurry up and cook for me.
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"Then let's work together and you help me."
She took William's hand and asked him to go to the kitchen to accompany her. She tried several times but couldn't pull him anymore. Abigail rolled her eyes and fell directly on top of William.
"Boss, do you hate me?"
Originally, he didn't plan to go out in the afternoon. William, who was waiting until dark to see if he could save the old American leader Benjamin Arthur, looked at Gale who was pretending to be pitiful speechlessly, "Okay, okay, I promise not to go out in the afternoon."
"Ha, if you don't go out in the afternoon, you will go out in the evening." Abigail is a doctor with double qualifications, so she immediately saw through this word play.
An angry William slapped the girl on the round spot behind her and said, "If you don't go, I will starve to death."
"You bastard", Abigail touched the place where she was hit, "it hurts so much".
"I'm going to take a shower and you make lunch. That's settled." He stood up with Abigail in his arms and threatened, "Please stay out of men's business, otherwise I won't let you get out of bed."
After saying that, he ignored Gale and went upstairs. He walked into the bedroom and took off his clothes, all of which were still on the floor. He walked into the bathroom and filled the water to take a bath.
Lying in the oversized bathtub, I stretched out comfortably, closed my eyes and said to Sunday, "When will the power in London be restored?"
"Sir, we can't get the control computer of Barkawi's group. It is estimated that it will take at least 24 hours."
"Fk, that doesn't mean that when this is over, the share price of England Electric Power will definitely plummet."
"No, sir, Barkawi and his group control the control system of England's power grid company. The London blackout has nothing to do with your power company.
If there are no errors in my program, judging from my investigation, the power company is operating normally. Once the official cracks the program Barkawi left in the England power grid host, power will be restored in London immediately."
"Huh?" After hearing this, William opened his glasses and sat up, "You mean, England Electric only produces electricity and has no business of transmitting electricity?"
"No, sir, your description is not accurate. England Electricity is mainly engaged in power generation and sales.
The transmission and distribution system is mainly operated by England Power Grid, and its business scope is England and Wales.
Because electricity is difficult to store, unified management of the power grid can regulate power generation to avoid waste and damage to lines, generators and other equipment when power is generated beyond actual demand.
At the same time, in addition to England Power, the power group also has electric energy companies and nuclear power companies, with market shares of 42%, 31% and 27% respectively."
"What is the market value of England's power grid?" William asked hurriedly.
"Based on yesterday's stock price on the New York Stock Exchange, the market value of England Power Grid is US$2.1 billion. However, I have to remind you that once you really take over England Power Grid, in my estimation there will be an 80% chance of facing an antitrust investigation."
"That's a problem." William nodded.
Unless the state holds a majority share in a power company, if everything related to electricity is managed by one company, it will definitely not escape the suspicion of monopoly.
Among other things, electric energy companies and nuclear power companies absolutely do not want William's English Power Company to acquire the English power grid.
If William's acquisition is really successful, it will be like having his neck directly stuck. This is something that no company can tolerate.
Just as he was thinking about how to avoid monopoly, Sunday suddenly said, "Sir, there is one more thing I need to remind you. England's current electricity trading still uses a power generation quota mechanism, and you are not able to generate as much electricity as you want."
"Huh?" Hearing this, William was not surprised but said happily. After thinking for a while, he said excitedly, "If I reform England's electricity and treat electricity as a commodity, it can be freely launched on the market.
Let the people decide which company to buy electricity from, so as long as my electricity price is always lower than that of the other two companies, can I avoid a monopoly?"
This question made Sunday pause for a few seconds, "Sorry, sir, I can't answer such an ambiguous question for you, but according to the provisions of the monopoly law, as long as you are not losing money or lowering prices without making money, it does not involve monopoly."
"And, to remind you, if you can achieve a lower cost than the other two, even just 10% lower, then the probability of these two companies going bankrupt in a few years will reach 90%.
No one will buy expensive consumables like electric energy. Even if it is 1% cheaper, some people will switch to electric power companies. Once these two companies go bankrupt, it will be unnecessary for you to buy the English power grid.
And once you unify electricity production in England and Wales, you will again run the risk of monopoly."
Not only was William not angry when he heard this, but he laughed, "That will happen in the future. Even as long as my electricity price is lower than that of other countries, the English official may support me to go out of the three islands of England and earn money from other countries.
And don’t forget that the owner of the Devon Hill Family Fund is my mother. I use the fund to acquire the power grid, maybe I can avoid the monopoly.”
Sunday paused for a few seconds before saying, "I suggest you leave these issues to Lawyer Anthony."
"Well, it seems that you are indeed not omnipotent."
William lay back in the bathtub, wondering whether he should take advantage of the attack and the collapse of England Power Grid's share price to acquire it.
However, this did not prevent William, a black-hearted guy, from causing mischief. He closed his eyes and said to Sunday, "How much damage will be caused if London is left without power for three days."
"Wait a moment, sir".
Ten seconds later, Sunday replied, "The GDP of the entire Greater London area last year was 204.7 billion U.S. dollars. Based on this calculation, the direct loss of a three-day power outage was at least 1.7 billion U.S. dollars. The indirect losses cannot be estimated.
It should be noted that London is a financial center, and the losses on the stock market cannot be estimated, but I estimate it will be no less than 10 billion US dollars.
Moreover, if the power outage lasts too long, there is a high probability that the authorities will re-evaluate the risks of unified power transmission, and the English power grid you bought may become a junk stock."