Power giant cuts confusing tariffs

The UK’s second largest energy supplier, which owns the Southern Electric, Scottish Hydro, SWALEC, Atlantic and SSE brands, will offer just four core products, down from 68. The changes to SSE’s tariffs mean customers will now have to answer just five questions to get the best deal.

Industry watchdog Ofgem last year accused the UK’s gas and electricity suppliers of failing “to play it straight” with consumers and said the number of tariffs across the industry had risen by 180 to more than 300 since 2008, leaving customers “bamboozled”.

It threatened to refer the industry to the Competition Commission if it did not simplify tariffs and sell off between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of their electricity output to allow smaller firms to enter the market.

Alistair Phillips-Davies, generation and supply director at SSE, said: “Buying energy has become too complex. In October, SSE committed to end the complexity that surrounds tariffs and significantly reduce the number of tariffs it offers.”

The news came as a new report warned poor families are being “priced out” of heating, threatening their health and well-being. Children’s charity Barnardo’s said there is a “fuel gap”, with the poorest spending £450 a year less than they should do on heating.