Retail
We are involved in the supply of electricity and gas and in other energy-related services such as electrical contracting to business and household customers.
Energy supply
We supply electricity and gas to more than 9.5 million household and business accounts under our brands: SSE, Scottish Hydro, Southern Electric, SWALEC and Atlantic in the Great Britain market and Airtricity in the markets in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We are Britain’s second largest energy supplier.
The main responsibilities of our energy supply business are to:
- ensure we secure enough electricity and gas to meet our customers’ needs;
- arrange for electricity and gas to be distributed to customers’ premises through the relevant networks;
- provide associated services such as metering and billing; and
- meet obligations in respect of energy efficiency and any related social or environmental schemes promoted by government.
People need to buy rather than choose to buy electricity and gas. So there is significant political and regulatory interest in energy supply markets. In Great Britain, for example, energy supply has been the subject of a Retail Market Review announced by Ofgem in November 2010, which is supposed to make energy retail markets work more effectively in the interests of customers.
Energy-related services
We provides other energy-related goods and services to customers, covering three principal areas:
- Home services including gas boiler cover, central heating and wiring maintenance and installation, telephone line rental, calls and broadband services, gogreen and microgeneration;
- Metering - supplying, installing, maintaining and reading meters in the household, commercial, industrial and generation sectors in Great Britain; and
- Contracting - domestic, commercial and industrial mechanical and electrical contracting and electrical and instrumentation engineering. SSE Contracting is one of the largest mechanical and electrical contracting businesses in the UK, operating from regional offices throughout Great Britain.