SSE experienced a tough 2018, after customer account numbers dropped from 6.45 million to 5.88 million over the period.

The news follows the collapse of its planned merger with fellow Big Six energy firm Npower back in December after the two businesses failed to come to an agreement as a result of challenging market conditions and the government’s price cap.

SSE received another blow after the Court of Justice of the European Union introduced a ‘standstill period’ for an industry-wide subsidy which had supported emergency fuel supplies. The company estimates that the loss of this subsidy will reduce its income by £60m this year.

While the energy firm hopes the UK government will step in to make payments, it said it would have to cut its expected earnings-per-share by around 6p for its 2018-19 financial year, which ends on 31 March 2018. It expects earnings per share will be in the range of 64p to 69p during the period, down from its previous range of 70p to 75p.