SSE has seen a marked increase of 700,000 customers over the last year.

Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) has reported its preliminary financial results for the first quarter of 2008, with a profit increase of almost 14%, from over £1.1 billion to £1.2bn, and a gain of 700,000 customers.

The energy company has attributed its success to its responsible pricing policy – SSE was the only supplier to defer gas and electricity price rises to the end of the winter season – while the increase in customers, bringing SSE’s total gas and electricity customer base to 8.45 million, has meant that the company is now the UK’s second largest energy supplier.

Sir Robert Smith, SSE Chairman, commented on the results, which saw particular growth in Generation and Supply: “SSE delivered very good operational and financial results in 2007/08, a challenging year for the sector in which many key questions were asked about the sustainability, reliability and affordability of energy.

“Our power stations performed well, as did our electricity networks, enabling us to contribute significantly to the security and reliability of the UK’s energy supplies. Delivering dividend growth, delivering our investment programme and delivering excellent service to customers are our key priorities in 2008/09 and will remain so in the years ahead.”

Included in its main aims for the future are energy efficiency, renewables, cleaned-up fossil fuel plant and micro generation, the company said.