SSE sees gas usage increase

Scottish & Southern Energy's household customers used more gas in the last 10 months as the company said it expected profits to be in line with analyst forecasts.

SSE, one of Britain's biggest utilities, said gas consumption rose by 7 per cent in the 10 months to January 31 compared to electricity usage which remained the same in the period.

The company added that it remains on course to deliver a full-year dividend of at least 74.5 pence per share and said it expected adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to be in line with the company-supplied analyst forecast of 1.3bn.

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SSE is among major European energy companies who have joined forces to plan a 1,200-2,000 megawatt (MW) power cable connecting Scotland and Norway by 2020.

SSE, Norway's Agder Energi and Lyse, and Swedish utility Vattenfall created a jointly owned development company called NorthConnect to study the feasibility of laying an underwater power interconnector between Scotland and Norway.

The Scottish European Green Energy Centre – an independent, not-for-profit organisation which supports renewable energy projects – has contributed 50,000 euros to find the best route for the NorthConnect cable, it was announced yesterday.

Sweden's Vattenfall said the cable will allow the two regions to link Norway's flexible hydro electricity production with Scotland's intermittent wind power and help reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Britain's power market is currently connected to France and Ireland and a new 1,000-MW subsea cable linking to the Netherlands will open on April 1.