SUFFOLK'S electricity business is preparing for yet another change of identity – although the name on the bills will remain the same.Powergen plc is owned by the German energy giant E.

SUFFOLK'S electricity business is preparing for yet another change of identity – although the name on the bills will remain the same.

Powergen plc is owned by the German energy giant E.On. From tomorrow the business will be known as E.On UK plc.

However the electricity and gas will continue to be sold under the brandname Powergen – and that name will remain on Ipswich Town's shirts next season.

"It means our power stations and distribution networks will be branded E.On, as will our major office sites," said a spokeswoman for the company.

"But the branding on the bills will not change – and neither will our sponsorship commitments."

Ipswich Town spokesman Terry Baxter said that the sponsorship would remain as at present for at least one more year – it is due to expire in May 2005 at the same time as Powergen's other sports sponsorship deals.

In 2002 Powergen took over the TXU Energi business, which emerged out of the old Eastern Electricity company which was privatised in the late 1980s.

The distribution network is owned and managed by another company, the French-government-owned EDF Energy.

That changed to its current name last year after previously operating as 24Seven.

Its job is to maintain power distribution networks – and it is the company which came under fire in October 2002 when thousands of homes across the region were left powerless after winter storms.