City & Finance Reporter for the Daily Mail

Energy firms SSE and Npower are in talks with the competition watchdog over their planned merger amid concerns it will drive up prices for UK households.

The deal, announced last year, will create a combined £3bn energy supplier serving around 11.5m customers.

Concerns: A planned merger will create a combined £3bn energy supplier serving around 11.5m customers

Concerns: A planned merger will create a combined £3bn energy supplier serving around 11.5m customers

Rachel Reeves, chairman of the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, has warned it could be bad for consumers and urged the Competition and Markets Authority to look at it closely.

Yesterday SSE and Npower’s parent firm Innogy confirmed they are in early talks with the CMA, which has not yet opened a full investigation.

The deal is set to complete by the end of the year. It came as SSE revealed customer numbers fell by 40,000 to 7.68m in the UK and Ireland over the past three months.

 It hiked electricity prices last year, adding £73 to the annual bill of a typical dual-fuel customer. SSE boss Alistair Phillips-Davies said the firm was focused on ‘delivering the best-possible service’.





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