230,000 quit power firm that hiked bills

THE energy market was in turmoil yesterday as major suppliers revealed they had lost customers in droves – while a switching giant hit out at a lack of competition.

SSE blamed a highly competitive market as it shed 230,000 accounts to 7.77m. It raised dual fuel prices by 6.9pc in April while chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies, 49, got a 72pc pay rise last year to £2.9m.

Scottish Power customers fell to 5.3m in the first half of 2017, down from 5.4m over the same period last year.