Charging on with profits

Scot Power quids in as prices go up

ENERGY giant Scottish Power has posted a 400% surge in profits while hitting customers with price hikes.

The company, one of Britain’s Big Six energy firms, made £170million in the first nine months of this year from its energy generation and supply businesses. That was up from £33m the same time last year.

The vast majority of this year’s haul – £161m – came from its supply arm.

Meanwhile, its generation arm swung from a £26m loss last year to an £8.8m profit.

Scottish Power insisted it was recovering from a tough 2017 and was aiming for a profit margin of 3-4%, “in line with a typical year and other retail sectors”.

Yet the firm risks angering customers who were hit with a price rise earlier this month. Scottish Power’s standard variable tariff rose by an average 3.7% on October 8 – which will cost a typical customer £46 more a year. The increase came after a 5.5% rise in June, which added £63.

The firm blamed a jump in wholesale energy costs for the price changes.

Scottish Power, which is owned by Spanish utility firm Iberdrola, lost another 90,000 customers between the end of June and September, leaving it with 4.8 million.

Peter Earl, head of energy at switching website Comparethemarket.com, said: “Scottish Power seems to be paying the price for its repeated price hikes.

“Whilst it’s positive to see people seeking out better energy tariffs, the fact that the provider still has almost five million customers shows how inert the market remains.”

Scottish Power recently announced it was selling the last of its remaining gas plants to Drax Group. Following completion of the deal, which is expected to finalise at the end of the year, Scottish Power will generate 100% of its electricity with wind power.

Earnings in the renewables business were up 19% in the period to £266.7m following completion of a £650m investment in onshore wind farms in Scotland.