Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
SSE makes an Olympic-sized contribution to the UK economy, the energy company has claimed ahead of financial results due out on Wednesday.
A report commissioned from PwC found the energy supplier boosted the economy by £9.1 billion in the past year. By comparison, the Olympics was said to have delivered a £9.9 billion economic injection.
The figure includes the impact of wages spent by employees and those in the supply chain, as well as taxation and direct capital investment.
Analysts predict SSE will announce a 9 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £1.54 billion in 2013/14, despite a mild winter hitting gas demand. The supplier raised prices by 8.2 per cent in November.
In a bold response to Labour’s campaigning on the cost of living, SSE has become the only major supplier to unconditionally energy freeze prices until 2016. However, it could face calls to go further and cut prices, to reflect falling wholesale gas prices.
The PwC report highlights the wider economic benefit of SSE’s success. This includes capital expenditure of £1.5 billion and £536 million in taxes borne and collected.
Alistair Phillips-Davies, chief executive of SSE, said: “Energy companies are under more scrutiny than ever so it’s right we offer as much transparency as we can. We know we’re investing more than we make in profit. We know SSE invests around £1.5bn a year into maintaining the energy infrastructure. This report is a serious attempt to see how that translates into economic benefit and job creation across the UK.”
Please login or Register to leave a comment.