Drax Group One significant change was the emergence of vertically integrated companies, combining generation, distribution and supply interests. In certain cases, it became necessary for generation assets to be divested, and so in 1999 Drax Power Station was acquired by the US-based AES Corporation for £1.87 billion (US$3 billion). A partial re-financing of Drax was completed in 2000, with £400 million of senior bonds being issued by AES Drax Holdings, and £267 million of subordinated debt issued by AES Drax Energy. Increased competition, over-capacity and new trading arrangements contributed to a significant drop in wholesale electricity prices, which hit an all-time low
Yorkshire and the Humber stations along the Aire Valley, with Drax being the second largest in Europe with 3,945 MW of capacity, and Eggborough which is owned by the Czech Republic's Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH) since 2014 and was owned by British Energy until 2010; Ferrybridge C closed on 23 March 2016. The distribution area once looked after by the regional electricity company Yorkshire Electricity is now looked after by Northern Powergrid (former YEDL), owned by Berkshire Hathaway (since 2001) of Omaha, Nebraska. The supply side of the region is now owned by npower (former National Power, now owned by RWE of Essen,