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Energy providers encouraged to follow SSE’s lead

Lucinda Beeman
Written By:
Lucinda Beeman
Posted:
Updated:
26/03/2014

SSE will freeze household electricity and gas prices until 2016.

The freeze will be partially funded by cutting 500 jobs and reducing investment in offshore windfarms.

Alistair Phillips-Davies, SSE’s chief executive, said: “We’re setting out a positive agenda for customers, including our price freeze to 2016; we’re making sure our own house is in order for the future by streamlining and simplifying business; and we’re making clear we wish to work with people to find more ways of taking costs out of energy bills.”

Jeremy Cryer, Gocompare.com’s energy spokesperson, said: “It’s important that existing or would-be SSE customers aren’t seduced by these price freeze announcements – if costs are held when they’re already expensive, it just means they will remain expensive. There are lots of long term fixed tariffs available at the moment which would allow people to fix their gas and electricity costs well into 2016, 2017 and even 2018, so the main thing is to shop around for the best tariff for you and switch if necessary.”

He continued: “Once one energy supplier announces a price hike, the others follow with grim inevitability, so we hope they will follow SSE’s lead again, but this time for the benefit of the millions of households for whom energy costs are becoming an increasing concern.”

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch, welcomed SSE’s price freeze.

She said: “After another winter of rationing heating and hot water to cope with rising bills, SSE customers have at last been offered the peace of mind they desperately needed. It’s our hope that the remaining big five energy firms follow SSE’s lead and look at ways to offer consumers the same reassurance.”

SSE’s move echoes a Labour campaign promise to freeze energy prices across the board should they win the upcoming general election, as does SSE’s move to separate its retail and wholesale business.


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