Energy price war provides rare good news for consumers
ByNews reporter
Utilities giant SSE has cut its household gas charges as a new price war rages among the UK’s major domestic energy suppliers.
The Perth-based firm announced it will cut its domestic gas bills by 4.5% from March 26 a move that came just 24 hours after EDF confirmed a 5% reduction in its gas tariffs.
British Gas weighed in with its own 5% cut in household electricity prices but its gas charges remained the same.
Consumer Focus Scotland said all six major UK utilities had benefited from a fall in wholesale energy prices, and said they had a duty to pass reductions on.
SSE said its gas price cut would save 3.5m households an average of £28 per year.
However, the move comes against a background of an inflation-busting 18% rise in gas prices introduced by SSE on September 14 last year, meaning consumers are still worse off overall.
The company has made no change to its electricity unit price which also increased by an average of 11% in the autumn.
SSE said it was also introducing a new payment option that would cap the price of supplied gas and electricity at 4% above unit price for the next three years.
Energy price war provides rare good news for consumers