ScottishPower to reduce energy prices
THREE of the UK’s Big Six energy companies have now cut their prices, with ScottishPower announcing yesterday that it is reducing bills by 4.8 per cent from 20 February onwards.
The company followed in the footsteps of British Gas and E.On to reduce its prices, and said the move would save customers £33 on an average dual fuel bill.
Neil Clitheroe, ScottishPower’s chief executive of retail and generation, said the decision to cut prices was made to benefit customers and keep prices competitive, and added that the firm would keep prices under review.
“Our pricing reflects all of the costs that contribute to a customer’s bill,” Clitheroe commented. “The wholesale price of energy accounts for half of a customer’s gas bill, but non-energy costs such as transmission and distribution networks and environmental and social obligations remain unaffected by any wholesale energy price movements.”
Stephen Murray, energy expert at MoneySuperMarket, said it was disappointing that ScottishPower was not enforcing the price cut immediately. He commented: “Scottish Power’s announcement marks the half-way point of cuts from the Big Six energy suppliers. Unfortunately, again it feels half-hearted when set against a recent 20 per cent cut in wholesale gas price.”
Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at USwitch, also stated that single digit price cuts “fall short of the double digit fall in wholesale energy prices”. She added that “all eyes” were now on the remaining three firms in the Big Six, EDF, Npower and SSE, to make similar reductions.