Scottish Power lose 120,000 customers in provider switch

Scottish Power has announced the loss of 120,000 customers over the past year, as price competition has seen switching to other firms.

The company saw pre-tax earnings in the division including electricity and gas retail fall by 71% to £49m.

The company said this is due to a mild winter earlier this year, when compared with the bitter cold of the 'beast from the east' in 2018.

As with other energy firms, profits are also being hit by the new price cap.

The battle to win switchers has helped the growth of more than 50 competitors for British customers, with Scottish Power declining to 4.75m, from 4.87m.

Renewables profits up

Other parts of the Spanish-owned energy firm saw earnings up. The renewables division, including its wind farms, saw pre-tax profits up 4% to £213m.

Higher energy costs helped that rise, while there were lower wind levels in April, May and June.

Networks, the division that owns and runs high voltage power lines in southern Scotland, saw earnings also up 4% to £417m.

Keith Anderson, chief executive of Scottish Power, welcomed the UK government's commitment to hit stretching new targets for cutting net climate change emissions to zero by 2050.

"The UK now has the opportunity to use the energy white paper, expected later this year, to provide the framework that will allow the regulator, government and industry to efficiently and cost-effectively decarbonise the UK economy."