MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) Select Committee have urged the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the proposed merger between SSE and Npower.
Committee chair Rachel Reeves pointed out that the merger would lmake the Big Six the Big Five and leave almost half of UK retail energy accounts in the hands of two companies – British Gas and the new SSE-Npower merged company.
She said that development was “concerning for the operation of a competitive marketplace” and urged the CMA to “look in detail” at the potential impacts the SSE-Npower merger could have, and “undertake a full investigation” if it deemed those impacts detrimental to competition.
SSE responded by stating it would “engage openly” with the CMA, the Select Committee “and any other interested party” throughout the merger process.
The company pointed out that the market would actually become 59 competitors, not five, and suggested that, should the merger go ahead, its “completely new model” will “combine the resources of established players with the agility and innovation of an independent supplier”.
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