Reduction would save £28 per year to standard household bill but critics call for deeper cuts branding it another move in ‘a phoney price war’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

SSE has become the latest of the large energy suppliers to cut its prices by reducing the cost of household gas by 4.1%.

It said the cut would save £28 a year on the typical gas bill. SSE has also pledged not to increase prices for 7m customers, until July 2016 at the earliest by extending the freeze it introduced last year by six months.

SSE is the fifth of the big six energy companies to reduce gas prices, following cuts from E.ON, British Gas, Scottish Power and npower.

Its reduction is smaller than all those announced so far, apart from E.ON’s 3.5% reduction, which took effect earlier than others on 13 January.

SSE will lower prices on 30 April, whereas cuts at other companies take effect by the end of February at the latest. On Friday, npower announced it would reduce household gas prices by 5.1% from 16 February.

SSE said the way it buys gas in wholesale markets lets it give customers greater long-term certainty than other suppliers.

“Although this can mean reductions to wholesale prices may take slightly longer to have an impact, customers know that they will benefit from price reductions without having to worry about prices going back up before July 2016,” the company said.

EDF is the only power company not to have announced household price reductions after the halving of the oil price cut the cost of gas that companies buy in the market.

Consumer groups have called on energy suppliers to pass on more of the reduction in wholesale prices to consumers while Citizens Advice has branded the announcements as a “phoney price war”. The companies have said the wholesale price only makes up about half the standard gas bill.

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at price comparison site uSwitch.com, said: “It looked as though the gas bill reductions were slowly becoming more generous, but it’s disappointing that SSE has not reduced its prices further or sooner. Energy companies need to take greater steps forward to help ease the pressure on homes trying to make ends meet.”