Existing customers will remain on their existing tariffs but can switch to the new tariffs. New customers will get the same four options regardless of whether they signed up online, by phone or face to face. SSE said it hoped to encourage all customers to eventually move to the new products. It said it would also step up marketing of energy services later this year.
Generation and supply director Alistair Phillips-Davies said the move was “the most significant change SSE has ever made to its product range” but called for restraint to be shown in regulatory moves to reform the electricity market.
“It has been suggested that forcing customers onto a single type of product will deliver a simpler approach to supplying energy to UK customers, ” he added. “But this kind of simplicity can actually be detrimental to customers. Some suppliers have already chosen to only offer one product, and in doing so excluded millions of customers who wish to have a choice of payment method or don’t want to buy their product online.”
The company said it had also introduced a price comparison metric which allows customers to see the relative cost of each product even without their precise annual energy consumption. SSE said all energy suppliers should do likewise and that it continues to press Ofgem on the matter.
SSE announced a radical overhaul of its operations last Autumn. The firm’s reputation had suffered over the summer after its doorstep sales script was found to be misleading and it was convicted of mis-selling at Guildford Crown Court in May. The company promptly stopped cold calling, a move subsequently followed by all major suppliers bar Eon. Many small suppliers also stopped, although some, such as First Utility still cold sell. SSE then announced a 10 point plan to re-build consumer trust, which will be essential if suppliers are to see real growth from energy services and for government policies, such as the smart meter rollout and the Green Deal, to have any chance of success.