SSE ups dual-fuel costs by £73 a year
MORE than one million residents in Scotland will be slapped with a 6.9 per cent rise in their dual-fuel bills, a move that will see £73 added to their household costs.
Energy firm SSE said the increase will affect 2.8 million customers across the UK – of which almost half live in Scotland – and will come into place on April 28.
SSE pinned the price rise on the increasing cost of supplying electricity, which it said has risen 14.9 per cent.
It also pointed to higher costs associated with delivering government programmes designed to upgrade “Britain’s ageing energy infrastructure”.
Will Morris, SSE’s managing director for retail, said: “We deeply regret having to raise electricity prices. This is the first increase since 2013 and we’ve worked hard to keep them down for as long as possible by cutting our own costs, putting in place a winter price freeze and holding gas prices, but we have seen significant increases in electricity costs which are outside our control.
“Without an increase, we would have been supplying electricity to domestic customers at a loss.”
A typical dual fuel bill will now cost SSE customers £1,142 per year and the firm is the latest of the Big Six energy suppliers to announce price hikes. Eon, ScottishPower, Npower and EDF have all ramped up prices over the past months.
Mark Todd, co-founder of switching service energyhelpline said: “The £73 hike is a hammer blow to households already struggling to make ends meet. However, it can be avoided if customers switch to a cheap fixed-rate tariff.”