Energy provider SSE said it has secured agreements to provide 3,150MW of de-rated electricity generation capacity from October 2019 to September 2020 at a price of £18 per kilowatt. The company said the move was as a result of the GB Capacity Market Auction process.
SSE has been criticised for not passing more savings on to customers after it revealed pre-tax profits of almost £549 million in the six months to September.
The benefits of offshore windfarms to the UK economy will be highlighted at an event next week.
Serica Energy has reached an agreement with BG International and SSE to transfer equity in the Columbus field in the North Sea.
A network group in Scotland has been chosen to upgrade the telecoms links to hundreds of North Sea oil platforms.
Engineering giant Siemens has received an order for the supply, installation and commissioning of 54 direct drive wind turbines in Scotland.
The £1billion Peterhead Carbon Capture and Storage project can help kick-start other CCS projects in the UK and make a significant contribution to reducing CO2, according to a leading industry expert.
Energy companies are failing to improve their handling of customer complaints, Citizens Advice data shows. Complaints about four of the big six - SSE, EDF, British Gas and npower - increased between the last quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year. Scottish Power, by far the worst offender overall with 1,154 complaints per 100,000 customers in the first quarter, saw a slight drop from 1,163 on the end of last year. SSE received the fewest complaints at 55.1 per 100,000 customers, but this was an increase on the previous quarter’s figure of 44.5.
Energy giant SSE lost 90,000 customer accounts in the last three months but gave no indication that it would follow rival British Gas in cutting prices. Shares fell 4% as the group also said that annual profits from its energy supply arm were likely to fall. The trading update comes weeks after a probe by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found suppliers have been overcharging customers by around £1.2 billion a year - and said that it was considering proposals that could see bills slashed.
Energy supplier SSE said it has lost more than 500,000 customer accounts in the last year, despite its pledge to freeze bills until at least July 2016. The UK’s second biggest company blamed “increasingly challenging and highly competitive market conditions” for the decline to 8.5 million accounts. SSE’s retail arm reported a 39% increase in profits to £456.8 million for the year to March 31, meaning that it made an average of £69 from the supply of household electricity and gas - before tax and interest payments. The rise in profits follows a tariff hike in November 2013 and the firm’s subsequent pledge to freeze prices, which it recently extended to next summer in the wake of a 4.1% average reduction in gas prices from last month.
Energy giant SSE has pledged to invest £12million in order to help meet the need to recruit a shortfall of 208,000 workers in the sector by 2023. It has called on firms to invest in the support of apprentices to ensure the UK has the skilled workforce needed to deliver major projects required for the future as half of utility sectors workers are set to retire in the next eight years.
Energy supplier SSE is to reduce household gas prices by 4.1% on April 30 before extending its energy price freeze until at least July 2016. The move is the latest cut by one of the UK’s Big Six energy firms, although SSE’s reduction will take effect much later than the company’s rivals, with British Gas due to cut its gas tariffs by 5% from February 27. In March, SSE pledged to freeze prices until January 2016 after putting up gas and electricity bills by 8.2% in the previous autumn. The UK’s second biggest supplier said today it has extended this guarantee, meaning its gas and electricity prices will not go up before July 2016 at the earliest.
British Gas owner Centrica and rival SSE saw nearly £1.5 billion wiped off their combined market values today after Labour called for new powers to force energy companies to cut household tariffs. Labour wants to give regulator Ofgem the ability to force the companies to pass on falls in the price of wholesale oil and gas to consumers which it was today estimated could knock £136 off the average bill. It set off nervousness among investors about the uncertainty surrounding the sector in the approach to May’s general election, with party leader Ed Miliband already having committed to a price freeze.
Energy giant SSE’s electricity network supports almost 2,000 jobs across the north of Scotland and is expected to have contributed £287million to the economy by the end of this year, research has revealed. The Perth-based firm, which manages 77,000 miles of overhead lines and underground cables across the north of Scotland and through its network in the south of England, added that it has invested £126million this year in the Scottish network to increase its resilience. Through its subsidiary, Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD), SSE operates its electricity distribution network from John O’Groats through Perth and Dundee, as well as 89 Scottish islands, according to the report by Big Four accountancy firm, PwC.