German energy swap probed

UK competition watchdogs are examining the impact on the £3billion merger of two of Britain’s biggest energy suppliers of a multi-billion asset swap deal by the German owner of one of the firms.

German utility E.ON is buying Innogy from domestic rival RWE. Innogy owns Npower, which is merging its energy supply with SSE to create a firm with 11.5 million gas and electricity accounts.

The Competition and Markets Authority, due to make its initial decision on the SSE/Npower combination by April 26, said it would now look at the E.ON-RWE deal.