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UK: In downturn, SSE begins talks with CMA over Npower merger

By  |  January 31, 2018

SSE has revealed it is in early talks with the competitions watchdog over its plan to merge and spin off its household energy supply and services businesses with German-owned Npower.

The firm, Britain’s second-largest energy supplier, announced late last year that it planned to create an independent supplier with Germany’s Innogy.

SSE said it has been in “pre-notification discussions” with the Competition and Markets Authority pending the start of the phase one investigation, and confirmed its planned merger was on track to be completed by the last quarter of 2018 or first quarter of 2019.

The merger, which will create a combined US$3.2  billion energy supplier and turn the Big Six energy suppliers into five, has come under fire from MPs, who fear it will spell bad news for energy consumers.

But SSE insisted that the deal will “serve the needs of customers, employees and other stakeholders in the long term.”

Full Content: Dudley News

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