SSE feels the chill as Britons try to keep heating bills to a minimum
More efficient homes and Britons' reluctance to turn on the heating saw Scottish & Southern Energy - which slapped UK households with an 18% hike in electricity prices for this winter - today post a 25% tumble in first-half profits to £287 million.
SSE, which London's homeowners know as Southern Electric, saw its bottom line eroded by higher wholesale gas prices, but also suffered from household customers' average consumption falling 16% during the six months to October.
In addition, its total customer numbers have plummeted by 30,000 since March.
In the past year the company has axed 1278 staff to take its workforce to 19,266. Most of those job losses come from its decision to end doorstep sales.
"This is not a straightforward time in which to do business," said the utility's chairman, Lord Smith of Kelvin. "SSE's half-year results reflect the impact of the high wholesale cost of gas which eventually necessitated the increase in household prices that unfortunately had to be made in September."
The company has promised customers it won't raise prices again before August.
Today SSE raised its dividend by 7% to 24p, Shares fell 21p to 1315p.
