SSE (SSE)

[Bouleversee]

I had exactly the same experience at HMRC.

[Dod101]

Not impressed by SSE...one hour on the phone waiting to speak to someone.

I can see why 93% of over 3100 reviews rated them as " bad" .


https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sse.com


Edit..got through at last. Call centre in India by the sound of it...very very difficult to understand.

Couldn't help so the lady transferred us to another number....another wait.

From an investment point of view (this is an investment forum, not a consumer services one) I rather like them. Besides, since they sold their retail operation to Ovo, there is presumably little demand from retail customers.

Dod

[daveh]

Not impressed by SSE...one hour on the phone waiting to speak to someone.

I can see why 93% of over 3100 reviews rated them as " bad" .


https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sse.com


Edit..got through at last. Call centre in India by the sound of it...very very difficult to understand.

Couldn't help so the lady transferred us to another number....another wait.

Why were you phoning SSE - they no longer have a customer facing arm (that is now OVO and I agree it is crap - over 1hr on the phone to discuss my direct debit, mostly on hold)? The last time I phoned SSEN about a power cut they were pretty good, quick to answer and kept me informed by SMS, though it wasn't during the last lot of storms as fortunately (unlike practically every where around me) I stayed on.

[Dod101]

Not impressed by SSE...one hour on the phone waiting to speak to someone.

I can see why 93% of over 3100 reviews rated them as " bad" .


https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sse.com


Edit..got through at last. Call centre in India by the sound of it...very very difficult to understand.

Couldn't help so the lady transferred us to another number....another wait.

Why were you phoning SSE - they no longer have a customer facing arm (that is now OVO and I agree it is crap - over 1hr on the phone to discuss my direct debit, mostly on hold)? The last time I phoned SSEN about a power cut they were pretty good, quick to answer and kept me informed by SMS, though it wasn't during the last lot of storms as fortunately (unlike practically every where around me) I stayed on.

That is the point I was making and if monabri was indeed phoning Ovo (or is it OVO?) then the sooner SSE stops licensing their name to Ovo the better.

Dod

[daveh]

Not impressed by SSE...one hour on the phone waiting to speak to someone.

I can see why 93% of over 3100 reviews rated them as " bad" .


https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sse.com


Edit..got through at last. Call centre in India by the sound of it...very very difficult to understand.

Couldn't help so the lady transferred us to another number....another wait.

Why were you phoning SSE - they no longer have a customer facing arm (that is now OVO and I agree it is crap - over 1hr on the phone to discuss my direct debit, mostly on hold)? The last time I phoned SSEN about a power cut they were pretty good, quick to answer and kept me informed by SMS, though it wasn't during the last lot of storms as fortunately (unlike practically every where around me) I stayed on.

That is the point I was making and if monabri was indeed phoning Ovo (or is it OVO?) then the sooner SSE stops licensing their name to Ovo the better.

Dod

It is OVO and I think the licence for the SSE name is coming to an end as I'm now branded as OVO and not SSE and I now phone an OVO number and not an SSE number. The previous time I queried my DD I phoned the OVO number that was on the email they sent me only to be told it was still SSE and I needed to phone a different number. Its possible that Monabri was still in that situation as they may be moving accounts across to OVO in a staggered manner.

[monabri]

Taking Dod's point about this being a board for SSE investors I won't say anything more other than further calls to try to sort the problem have been unsuccessful ( all I want to do is pay a bill for a period of 2 months when our rental flat was vacant).

[Dod101]

Taking Dod's point about this being a board for SSE investors I won't say anything more other than further calls to try to sort the problem have been unsuccessful ( all I want to do is pay a bill for a period of 2 months when our rental flat was vacant).

I am not getting at you but it is a shame that the SSE name should be tarnished by the licensing arrangement with another supplier. I too am a customer of OVO but have had no reason to call them since the switch over. I pay by variable quarterly Direct Debit had have had no problems.

Dod

[daveh]

Taking Dod's point about this being a board for SSE investors I won't say anything more other than further calls to try to sort the problem have been unsuccessful ( all I want to do is pay a bill for a period of 2 months when our rental flat was vacant).

I am not getting at you but it is a shame that the SSE name should be tarnished by the licensing arrangement with another supplier. I too am a customer of OVO but have had no reason to call them since the switch over. I pay by variable quarterly Direct Debit had have had no problems.

Dod

I actually got a better response messaging OVO on Facebook. I'll see if they follow through on their promise.

[csearle]

Moderator Message:
Team, this board is about company news rather than experience with the company. Thanks, Chris

[Dod101]

Moderator Message:
Team, this board is about company news rather than experience with the company. Thanks, Chris

And it is not even experience with SSE. It appears to be experience with OVO.

Dod

[funduffer]

Not impressed by SSE...one hour on the phone waiting to speak to someone.

I can see why 93% of over 3100 reviews rated them as " bad" .


https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sse.com


Edit..got through at last. Call centre in India by the sound of it...very very difficult to understand.

Couldn't help so the lady transferred us to another number....another wait.

The thing is, SSE the consumer electricity supplier is no longer owned by SSE plc. It was sold off to OVO, but the brand name is retained by OVO. So this is no longer of any relevance to this thread!

FD

[Dod101]

Not impressed by SSE...one hour on the phone waiting to speak to someone.

I can see why 93% of over 3100 reviews rated them as " bad" .


https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sse.com


Edit..got through at last. Call centre in India by the sound of it...very very difficult to understand.

Couldn't help so the lady transferred us to another number....another wait.

The thing is, SSE the consumer electricity supplier is no longer owned by SSE plc. It was sold off to OVO, but the brand name is retained by OVO. So this is no longer of any relevance to this thread!

FD

Wrong. It is not 'retained by OVO' It is used by OVO under a licensing agreement from when SSE sold the business to OVO. It is presumably of a limited duration and I hope that is very soon since it is not in the interests of SSE or its shareholders that it should be associated with poor service from OVO.

Dod

[idpickering]

UK CfD Allocation Round 4-Viking Energy Wind Farm.

SSE Renewables has today, 7 July 2022, been informed that its wholly-owned Viking Energy Wind Farm (Viking) has been successful in the UK's fourth Contract for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round and is set to be awarded a low-carbon power contract for 220MW.

Viking's success in securing a contract follows a competitive auction process in Allocation Round 4 (AR4) where it competed within Pot 2 of the allocation round set aside for 'less established' technologies including Remote Island Wind.

The 443MW Viking project, which SSE Renewables is currently building in the Shetland Islands, has secured a CfD for 220MW ( 50% of its total capacity) at a strike price of £46.39/MWh for the 2026/27 delivery year. The successful project will receive its guaranteed strike price, set on 2012 prices but annually indexed for CPI inflation, for the contracted low carbon electricity it will generate for a 15-year period. Securing a CfD for Viking stabilises the revenue from the project whilst also delivering price security for bill payers.

Viking is progressing through construction with over 50 per cent of turbine foundation bases poured. When complete in 2024, Viking will be the UK's most productive onshore wind farm in terms of annual electricity output ^ with the project also contributing to Shetland's security of supply by underpinning the HVDC transmission link that will connect the islands to the mainland for the first time.

Stephen Wheeler, Managing Director of SSE Renewables, said:
"We are delighted that Viking Energy Wind Farm has been successful in securing a 15-year contract in the UK's fourth and highly competitive CfD allocation round. Viking will be the most productive onshore wind farm in the UK when it enters operation from 2024, and will play a crucial role in decarbonising energy supply in the Shetland Islands as well as in Scotland.

"Through the delivery of onshore wind energy projects such as Viking, SSE Renewables is helping drive the delivery of SSE's Net Zero Acceleration Programme (NZAP) which will see the company double its installed renewable energy capacity to 8GW by 2026 and increase our annual renewable energy output fivefold to over 50TWh by 2031 ."

https://www.investegate.co.uk/sse-plc-- ... 08506556R/

Ian.

[idpickering]

Pathway to 2030.

'Pathway to 2030' underpins £7bn+ investment in north of Scotland transmission network

· SSEN Transmission welcomes today's publication by National Grid ESO of the 'Pathway to 2030'

· The blueprint confirms the need for over £7bn of investment in electricity transmission infrastructure in north of Scotland, providing greater confidence to SSE's expected RAV forecast

· A policy document is to be published in following months, the Energy Networks Strategic Framework, which is expected to include details about expediting regulatory approvals to support accelerated delivery of the 2030 investment plan

Major additional Projects included in the 'Pathway to 2030'

The 'Pathway to 2030' sets out the blueprint for the electricity transmission network infrastructure required to enable the forecast growth in renewable electricity across Great Britain, including the UK and Scottish Governments 2030 offshore wind targets of 50GW and 11GW.

For the north of Scotland, this confirms the need for over £7bn of investment in onshore electricity transmission infrastructure, with the following reinforcements required to deliver 2030 targets, several of which will require accelerated delivery to meet 2030 connection dates:

· two 2GW subsea high-voltage direct current (HVDC) links from Peterhead to England: Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2), connecting to Drax for 2029; and EGL4 connecting to South Humber. Both links will be taken forward as joint ventures with National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET);

· a 2GW subsea HVDC link from Spittal in Caithness, connecting to Peterhead;

· a 1.8GW subsea HVDC link from the Western Isles, connecting to the north of Scotland mainland;

· 400kV onshore reinforcements, between Beauly, Blackhillock, New Deer and Peterhead; between Beauly, Loch Buidhe and Spittal; and between Kintore, Tealing and Westfield; and

· an upgrade of the existing Beauly to Denny line to enable 400kV operation on both circuits.

Alongside and co-ordinated with the 'Pathway to 2030' investments, a new HVDC Switching Station at Peterhead, 'Project Aquila', will be developed by SSEN Transmission to accelerate the development of offshore wind. By integrating HVDC systems through multi-terminal and multi-vendor interoperability, this will help reduce the number of HVDC Convertor Stations required for future HVDC links, reducing costs and minimising community and environmental impacts. This innovation has today been announced as one of the UK Government's successful first tranche 'Pathfinder' projects, which are being progressed under the BEIS led Offshore Transmission Network Review Early Opportunities workstream.

Further investments will be needed to realise ScotWind's full ambition, with the ESO expected to publish a follow up exercise in Q1 2023 setting out the additional network reinforcements required.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/sse-plc-- ... 13547016R/

Ian.

[BullDog]

An extraordinary outbreak of common sense has occurred. SSE and others generating electricity in the UK are not to be raided by the government for their windfall tax.

[idpickering]

An extraordinary outbreak of common sense has occurred. SSE and others generating electricity in the UK are not to be raided by the government for their windfall tax.

Thanks for that. Also see;

UK PM Johnson has no plans to extend windfall tax to electricity producers - spokesman.

Boris Johnson has no plans to extend a windfall tax on profits to electricity generators before he steps down as Britain's prime minister, his spokesman said on Monday.

Asked whether the windfall tax that is being introduced for oil and gas producers would be extended to electricity generators, the spokesman said: "We would not seek to make any new policies or major fiscal decisions. So there's no plans to do that."

"We will continue to evaluate the scale of the profits and consider appropriate steps but there's no plans to introduce or extend that to that group," he said.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/uk-pm-johnson ... 12506.html

SSE up 2.8% as I type. As to whether that is due to the above, or people getting in before the upcoming ex dividend date for the 60.2p final, on 28 Jul 22 perhaps? I'm toying with buying more of the share before then myself.

Ian.

[idpickering]

Q1 TRADING STATEMENT.

· Reaffirming guidance of FY23 adjusted earnings per share of at least 120p

· Performance slightly exceeding our expectations for the quarter, with continued progress on key energy infrastructure projects

· Commenced formal process for disposal of a 25% minority stake in SSEN Transmission

TRADING UPDATE

Q1 performance has slightly exceeded our expectations and further demonstrates the strength and stability provided by SSE's balanced mix of regulated and market-facing businesses. Progress across the various capex projects also continues at pace, with first power from Seagreen offshore wind farm expected by the end of this month and construction on Viking onshore wind farm and Dogger Bank A, B & C offshore wind farms progressing well.

Correspondingly, as previously stated on 25 May 2022, SSE expects to report full year adjusted earnings per share of at least 120p and anticipates adjusted capital expenditure and investment to total in excess of £2.5bn* this financial year.

Progress continues to be made on the disposal of a 25% minority stake in SSEN Transmission with the formal process now under way. The Group has targeted an agreed sale by the end of the calendar year, with completion following receipt of regulatory approvals.

* including acquisitions but net of project finance development expenditure refunds

Gregor Alexander, Finance Director, said:

"We continue to make excellent progress on our Net Zero Acceleration Programme, investing at pace in the vital electricity infrastructure that will help build a more secure, affordable and sustainable energy system.

"The strength of SSE's integrated and balanced business model, combined with our commitment to positive engagement with key stakeholders, is serving us well through a period of market, political and regulatory complexity. Meanwhile, CfD success at Viking, progress on our Southern European pipeline acquisition, the positive outlook for Transmission from the recent Holistic Network Design and new hydrogen options at Saltend all position us well for the long term.

"Having advocated for some time for an evolution of the current electricity market frameworks to deliver net zero cost effectively and securely, we welcome the recent BEIS Review of Electricity Markets Arrangements (REMA) consultation, believing that an orderly consultative process is the right way to deliver the necessary investment.

"We remain confident in our financial outlook for strong earnings growth this year and look forward to updating the market on performance in our interim results statement on 16 November 2022."

https://otp.tools.investis.com/clients/ ... id=1608024

nb, FWIW, Investegate seem to have server issues this morning so the RNS for this item is not available currently it seems, hence my having gone to SSE instead.

Ian.

[idpickering]

Further to my last, here's the RNS in relation to the announcement from SSE above;

https://www.investegate.co.uk/sse-plc-- ... 00062018T/

Ian.

[Dod101]

This trading statement seems to indicate a Company well on top of its business and it is to me a very encouraging statement. I have held for many years and will continue to do so.

Dod

[idpickering]

Result of AGM.

The Annual General Meeting of SSE plc took place in Perth today. All 25 Resolutions, as set out in the Notice of Annual General Meeting, were passed by shareholders on a poll. The following table shows the votes cast on each resolution:

https://www.investegate.co.uk/sse-plc-- ... 48373459T/

Ian.