SSE braced for profits backlash

Nov 12 - Daily Mail, London

Energy giant SSE is set for fresh heat from customer groups this week when it reveals earnings figures just weeks after hiking winter fuel bills for households, writes Ben Griffiths.

The 5m electricity and 2.4m gas customers served by the former Scottish & Southern Energy group were recently told that average prices would rise by 9pc.

Cash-strapped consumers have been hit by higher bills as the "big six" energy suppliers blame the rises on wholesale prices and increased running costs, especially for transporting gas and electricity to customers' homes, plus the cost of energy efficiency programmes.

On Wednesday SSE will update the London Stock Exchange on its half-year earnings. In May, the company posted a 2pc rise in annual profits to pounds sterling 1.3bn but the surplus from domestic operations was down 21pc to pounds sterling 271.7m as it battled higher costs and falling consumption.

SSE was the first of the big six to increase prices, but it was followed by all the other major suppliers apart from E.ON, which made a promise not to raise tariffs this year.

Investors will also be watching to see if the unseasonably chilly autumn has boosted consumption.

British Gas-owner Centrica will also be in the spotlight on Thursday, having announced it will increase its prices by an average of 6pc on November 16.

The UK's biggest energy supplier, which is due to post a trading update, came under fire in July for making residential operating profits of pounds sterling 345m in the space of six months, equivalent to pounds sterling 1.9m a day.

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