Energy firm SSE reports near doubling of annual profits

SSE has reported a near-doubling of its annual profits compared with the year before after soaring energy market prices led to a boom for its fossil fuel power plants.

The Perth-based company said its adjusted pre-tax profits climbed to £2.18bn for the 12 months to the end of March, up from almost £1.16bn the year before.

The sharp increase in full-year profits came as earnings from its gas-fired power plants surged almost fourfold to £1.24bn for the last financial year, up from £331.1m the year before.

The company has sought to downplay the soaring profits generated by its gas plants in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which triggered the jump in global energy market prices that has ignited calls for a windfall tax on the excess profits made by power generators and oil companies.

SSE said it had invested a record £2.8bn in low-carbon electricity infrastructure, greater than its profits, which had helped to deliver a £6bn benefit to the UK’s GDP and supported nearly 40,000 UK jobs.

Alistair Phillips-Davies, its chief executive, said the company had made “profits with a purpose” that would accelerate its plans to invest in renewable energy and reinforce the UK’s electricity grid to help speed up the UK’s climate agenda.

“Action, not just ambition, is what is needed to provide lasting solutions to the problems of climate change, energy affordability and security – and, with a record-breaking investment programme, that is what we are delivering,” he said.

SSE runs gas-fired power stations alongside hydroelectric plants and windfarms and an electricity transmission business. The company said it would increase its five-year investment plan to 2027 by 40% to £18bn.

The new plan will include a 50% increase in capital spending for its regulated electricity networks, a 40% increase for its renewable electricity generation and a 10% increase for its low-carbon flexible thermal generation and other businesses.

“Through delivery of our societally aligned strategy we are accelerating the build-out of renewables, reinforcing the networks needed to decarbonise, providing much-needed flexible generation, and working hard to ensure no one is left behind in the transition to net zero,” Phillips-Davies said.