Scottish and Southern Energy follows British Gas lead

Following British Gas's price cut recently, Scottish and Southern Energy has become the second energy firm to cut prices for customers.

SSE, with nine million domestic customers, is cutting average electricity prices by 9 per cent and gas prices by 4 per cent from 30 March.

Sadly, the scale of today's cut compares poorly with the price rises pushed through last year when wholesale costs rocketed. Last August SSE put electricity prices up by 19.2 per cent on average, while gas bills soared 29.2 per cent.

There are six big energy suppliers in the UK. The four other are npower, E.ON, Scottish Power and EDF and these look set to follow suit now.

Today's cut from SSE is its first since March 2007.

Another way to make money is to be a shareholder of SSE. It is expecting a rise of at least 9.1 per cent in full-year dividends.