ENERGY provider SSE has been given the go-ahead to sell the household supply part of its business to smaller rival Ovo Energy.
The deal, which was approved by the competitions watchdog this morning, will see 3.5million customers moved to a new supplier by early 2020.
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As well as this, 8,000 members of staff will be switched to Ovo.
Ovo will pay £500million for the business and expects to complete the sale by January 2020.
The move was given the green light by the Competition and Marketing Authority (CMA) today after the watchdog confirmed it wouldn’t be continuing its investigation.
It means Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) will no longer be one of the Big Six suppliers after the deal is completed.
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Instead, Ovo will join the likes of British Gas, EDF Energy, nPower, E.ON UK and Scottish Power as one of the biggest energy providers in the UK.
It comes after SSE was forced to scrap its plan to merge with nPower over fears their deal could push up energy costs for customers.
SSE was also fined £700,000 by industry watchdog Ofgem in April for missing last year’s target to install gas smart meters for customers.
Households with SSE won’t need to do anything during the transition period, as their contracts will be honoured by Ovo.
But they will be contacted by Ovo when their contract is up to be offered a new deal.
Ovo will operate under the SSE brand at first, before eventually being “carefully” phased under the smaller firm’s name and logo.
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Ovo, which is the UK’s largest independent supplier, has around 1.5million customers and 2,000 employees.
While SSE has 5.8million active customer accounts and 20,000 members of staff.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, CEO and Founder of OVO, said: “We’re delighted with the CMA’s decision and look forward to bringing SSE into the Ovo family.
“There is a lot of work to be done, but we’re excited about the challenge ahead and the opportunity to help even more customers on the journey to zero carbon.”
Alistair Phillips-Davies, CEO of SSE, said: “Completion of the transaction will give SSE plc even sharper focus to delivering the low-carbon infrastructure needed to help the UK reach net zero emissions.
“We have a clear strategy around developing, operating and owning renewable energy and electricity network assets, along with growing businesses complementary to this core.”
Research by Which? found that more than 250,000 Brits were hit by price hikes after their energy suppliers went bust.
Now, homeowners without smart meters face a massive energy bill hike too, a minister has warned.
