LONDON (Reuters) - SSE (L:SSE) will reduce household gas prices by 4.1 percent on April 30, becoming the fifth of the UK's six big energy suppliers to cut consumer tariffs after a fall in wholesale costs.
SSE's move leaves EDF Energy, a subsidiary of France's EDF (PA:EDF), as the only large gas and electricity supplier not to have announced a cut in UK prices.
Wholesale crude oil and natural gas prices in Europe have tumbled due to a global supply glut, reducing the energy purchase costs for utilities.
So far, RWE npower (DE:RWEG) has announced the steepest cut at 5.1 percent, while E.ON (DE:EONGn) customers have received the smallest reduction at 3.5 percent.
SSE added that following the cut, its prices would remain at the same level until at least July 2016, extending a price freeze announced last year by six months.
The Scotland-based firm, which will report full-year results on May 20, also reiterated plans to pay shareholders a dividend for 2014/15 at least equal to inflation.
The utility added that it expects full-year adjusted earnings to be around the same level achieved in 2013/14.
SSE shares opened 1.9 percent higher on Monday.
Last year, SSE announced plans to sell assets and cut costs.
It said on Monday it had already raised 440 million pounds from disposals and that 90 percent of a 100-million-pound cut in overhead costs had been completed.