SSE is tops in the fight for electric, gas customers

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Amid record numbers of people changing their domestic gas and electricity supplier, a report from Ofgem reveals that Southern Electric and its parent company Scottish & Southern Energy has increased its number of customer accounts by more than 60% to around eight million in just five years.

Since 2002, SSE more than doubled its share of market for gas customers to become the second-largest gas supplier in the country after the former state monopoly British Gas.

In electricity SSE is also the single biggest winner of customer accounts, adding around 1.5 million customers in five years to the point where it has almost overtaken Powergen and npower, the former state-owned companies before privatisation and their subsequent takeovers by German power giants.

SSE has long been seen as the market leader on price and has been at times almost 20% cheaper than the most expensive suppliers when prices sent most household energy bills rocketing over £1000 a year.

British Gas, traditionally the highest-priced supplier before its belated big fightback on price this year, has seen a five-year, 3.5-million slump in gas customers, according to statistics from Ofgem, the industry regulator. Since 2002 its gas market share has gone from almost two thirds of the country to less than 50% - just keeping its gas customer numbers above 10 million.

In electricity Ofgem's figures show Powergen as the biggest loser with customer numbers falling by nearly one million to just over five million.

The switching was hailed by Ofgem as a success for a fully functioning, competitive privatised market.

The 2.8 million customers that switched supplier in the first seven months put the market on course to easily exceed the four million customers who switched last year. "With 2.8 million households switching in the first half of the year the heat is still on suppliers to offer customers the best deal for their energy," said Ofgem chief executive Alistair Buchanan.

London's supplier EDF has made few inroads into the national figures. It has net losses of customers over the five years.