SSE announce 4.1% gas price cut
26/01/2015
Gas and electricity company SSE has announced that they will be cutting gas prices in the UK by 4.1%, saving the average household around £28 a year.
The energy supplier has become the latest out of the “big six” energy companies to cut gas prices, as a result of falling wholesale gas prices.
Additionally, SSE said that they would extend their previous ‘price freeze’ for a minimum of six months, meaning these prices are guaranteed until July 2016.
In recent weeks, British Gas, E.On, Scottish Power and Npower have all made similar cuts, and the only major energy company yet to do so is EDF.
Speaking about the price cut, Steve Forbes, a director at SSE said: "We were the only supplier to freeze prices and we promised we would cut them if we could; now we're delivering on that promise with an average £28 reduction in gas bills."
Pressure
Despite the price cuts, pressure groups have claimed that the cuts should in fact be larger, so they are more in line with the falling cost of other products such as petrol.
It has been suggested by these same pressure groups that energy companies are quick to increase prices when wholesale prices increase, but slow to react when costs are reduced.
However, Mr Forbes defended their prices by stating: "It takes longer for wholesale costs to filter through than other products like petrol as we buy much further in advance to smooth out the rise and falls in wholesale prices."
The energy industry is currently being subjected to a full scale investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and the initial report should be published in May or June.
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