OREANDA-NEWS. SSE will cut household gas prices in Great Britain, saving customers 4.1% or f28 a year on a typical gas bill, and is guaranteeing these low prices until at least July 2016.

It last reduced household energy prices in March 2014 and this latest price cut means the typical gas bill will be 7% lower than this time last year.  It will take effect from 30 April 2015.

SSE’s unique freeze on standard household energy prices will be extended until at least 1 July 2016 and covers gas at the new lower rate and existing electricity prices.  Already the longest ever seen in the GB market, the freeze makes SSE the only supplier with a price guarantee for both gas and electricity for at least 15 months.  It remains committed to cutting household energy prices again, if it can.

Steve Forbes, SSE’s Director of GB Domestic, 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 f28 reduction in gas bills.
 
“Only SSE customers can bank on the fact that their standard energy prices won’t increase under any circumstances before July 2016.

“Our prices are coming down, they’re staying down and we want to work with government to bring them down further.”

By July 2016 SSE's household energy prices will not have gone up for more than two and a half years.  Prices will have, in fact, been cut at least twice.

SSE is committed to giving its customers prices that are both competitive and stable.  Its approach to buying energy in wholesale markets has enabled it to provide customers with more long-term certainty over its standard prices than any other energy supplier in Great Britain.   Although this can mean reductions to wholesale prices may take slightly longer to have an impact, customers know that they will benefit from price reductions without having to worry about prices going back up before July 2016.  

SSE is also calling for political action to drive down the other rising costs which make up more than half of the bill, including government-sponsored environmental and social policies and its smart meter roll-out costs.  

To protect customers, particularly the most vulnerable, SSE believes these policies should be funded through taxation and related to people’s ability to pay.  It believes the smart meter roll-out should be subject to review to identify what can be done to minimise its costs and optimise its benefits to consumers.