Household Gas Prices from 26 March 2012

SSE will cut its unit price for household gas by 4.5% from 26 March 2012. Around 3.5 million households in Britain will benefit from the reduction, which will cut typical gas bills by around £28 a year¹.

SSE has also decided to extend by another two months its commitment to cap household electricity and gas prices, from August 2012 to October 2012.  This means that it will not implement any price increases before October 2012 at the earliest, but will implement more price reductions if it can.

Customers of M&S Energy will also benefit from the gas price reduction and the extended gas and electricity price cap.

SSE will also introduce a new three-year fixed price option for electricity and gas customers, with a premium of 4% on the standard prices for units that will apply from 26 March 2012².

To make sure that supplies to its customers are secure, SSE buys most of its gas months, and sometimes years, in advance of when it is actually delivered to customers.  Virtually all of the gas being supplied to customers this winter was bought some time ago, but some of the gas that will be supplied to customers from the spring onwards has been purchased since the period of lower wholesale prices began.  Having analysed and considered the position for some time, SSE is able to announce this reduction in household prices.

Wholesale gas costs account for around 55% of household gas bills³.  From 16 January 2012, SSE will publish online a breakdown of all of the costs that make up a household customer’s bill, in advance of the breakdown appearing on all customers’ bills later this year.

SSE increased household gas prices by 18% in September 2011.  It also increased household electricity prices in September 2011, by 11%, which is the only time it has increased household electricity prices since August 2008.  It supplies energy as SSE, Scottish Hydro, Southern Electric, SWALEC and Atlantic.

Alistair Phillips-Davies, Generation and Supply Director of SSE, said:

“I hope that this package of measures will give our customers some respite from the seemingly endless rises in household costs that we have seen in recent times.  The cut in household gas bills shows customers that we will bring down prices when we can and our decision to extend to October our pledge not to increase prices will give our customers some additional certainty about the costs they will face in the course of this new year.  The introduction of our new fixed price product also gives customers the option to put a ceiling on the price they pay for energy through to 2015.

“In addition to price, the issues of service and trust are vital.  SSE continues to be the industry leader for customer service and last month Consumer Focus announced SSE remains the only supplier with a 5 Star rating in their league table. We are also making good progress with the package of measures we announced in October to build customers’ trust in energy supply.”

¹Based on the typical annual household gas consumption of 16,500kWh and payment on standard quarterly terms.  The unit price reduction is equivalent to 3.8% off a total typical gas bill.
²The fixed price product will be available from the middle of February 2012.
³The other costs which make up household gas bills are fixed and are: distribution through the gas pipelines; metering and customer service; mandatory environmental and social costs; and VAT.