SSE Swalec Is Now Ovo Energy: Questions Answered

Swalec is now part of SSE, one of the UK’s biggest energy suppliers, which in turn has been bought by OVO Group. But what does this mean for former Swalec customers? Read on to find out everything you need to know about SSE Swalec and where you currently stand.

SSE customer service and reviews

SSE is the "Big Six" supplier with the best customer service, but are they really so great? While SSE reviews have not been impressive when compared to other providers on the market historically, they seem to have come on in leaps and bounds recently.

SSE’s rating on Trustpilot, which once stood at a miserable 1.4, now sits at a much more respectable 4.4 out of 5. For a site known mainly for receiving customer complaints, that’s pretty impressive. A significant 74% of SSE reviews rank the provider as ‘Excellent’, the best possible score on the site.

Danny was extremely helpful and polite. He explained all my options are getting a new meter fitted. He explained the process thoroughly and provided me with all the relevant information at every step.

The most common themes among positive SSE reviews are helpful customer service agents. Many reviews give the name of the agent, which is a sign that perhaps they're being asked during the call to leave a review. This is a common practice which we have no problem with as long as it means customers are getting a good service.

Oddly, these satisfied customers are not reflected in Which?’s review of SSE, where it was ranked 22nd out of 25 providers. The company did score a decent 3 out of 5 stars on both customer service and complaints handling. Troublingly, its score seems to have been affected by its 1-star rating for value for money, which is not a great area to score poorly on!

In the end, SSE reviews tell a mixed story. While you may be satisfied with its customer service, it's unlikely you'll be pleased with your monthly bill.

Fuel mix

Beyond being an energy supplier, SSE also invests in producing energy from renewable resources. Their subsidiary, SSE Renewables, has invested in construction and developing:

• Onshore wind farms
• Offshore wind farms
• Hydro-power

So do SSE tariffs on the domestic side reflect this commitment? The short answer is: not exactly.

Correct for the period of 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. Last updated: May 2021

Around 52% of SSE’s electricity comes from renewable energy, which is pretty respectable when compared with the national average. With almost half of their electricity coming from gas, however, they’re far from environmentally-friendly - in the long-term they're going to need to be less reliant on fossil fuels.

The silver lining is that SSE does not burn coal for its fuel, which produces more CO2 than gas, or nuclear energy, which produces radioactive waste materials.

Contact number

Need to get in touch with SSE Swalec? If you are looking for information about the Warm Home Discount you can find the contact information on our SSE Warm Home Discount page. Below, you’ll find their general customer service phone number, but depending on your inquiry it may not be the best option. You can call SSE on 0345 070 7373 Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm and on Saturdays from 8am to 2pm.

As one of the UK’s biggest electricity and gas suppliers, SSE has a tonne of contact phone numbers, emails and chat options. It might even seem overwhelming if you're not totally sure which channel to go through. Luckily, we’ve gone through the list and sorted out just the useful bits on our SSE contact page.

SSE login

If you would like to login to your SSE account, it's a simple as entering your login credentials. You will have created these yourself when you signed up for your account, however, if you have not yet set up your online account, you can do so simply by entering a few bits of simple information on the 'Create your account now' section. Once logged in, you will be able to do the following:

• See usage history.
• View past bills and statements.
• Submit a meter reading.
• Edit personal information.

If you have forgotten part of your login credentials, you can reset them by clicking 'Forgotten your password?' on the login screen. Head over to the provider's website to login to your SSE account.

Share price and financials

SSE is one of only two Big Six companies that is British-owned, and trades on the London Exchange as ‘SSE’.

Looking at the SSE share price since it first began trading in 1992, its value has increased fairly steadily from an initial value of about £250 up to £1,560 in 2013, following a dramatic dip that coincided with the global financial crisis of 2008. This overall increase in value corresponds with the growth of the energy sector, as well as the UK economy in general during the same time period.

More recently, SSE share price reached its 2021 peak at £1,612 in January, then falling drastically to £1,301.50 in March. After making a small recovery in the months that followed, the SSE share price currently sits at £1,464.21 (last updated May 2021).

About SSE

SSE, formerly Scottish and Southern Energy, is one of just a few of the major suppliers that are British-owned. It was formed in 1998 from the merger of two public sector utility authorities, ‘North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board’ and ‘Southern Electricity Board’. This took place among a wave of energy companies being privatised at the time.

SSE has a history of producing renewable energy, in 2018 launching SSE Renewables as a separate company solely dedicated to producing renewable energy with a focus on wind and hydro-power.

Throughout last year, rumours surged that SSE would be merging with struggling Npower. Ultimately, the merger was scrapped and Npower instead merged with Eon. Despite losing a significant number of customers over the last few years, SSE is said to provide gas and electric for around 6 million customers.

SSE SwalecSwalec was the South Wales Electricity board supply and distribution company that was bought by SSE in 2000 for £210m. SSE Swalec was formed as a result of this deal but has since been purchased by Ovo Group.

SSE Smart Meter

The United Kingdom is currently undergoing a national rollout of smart meters. It was originally set to be completed by 2020, but this deadline has been pushed back to 30 June 2021 - this is creeping ever closer and is also likely to be pushed back. There has been some progress towards getting a smart meter in every UK home, but large gas and electricity suppliers like SSE will need to make a bigger effort.

Here at Selectra, we recommend getting a smart meter for your home. The reason why is the best one possible: they save time and money. A smart meter monitors your energy use in nearly real-time and eliminates the need for manual meter readings, saving you time. It also eliminates the need for your energy provider to send you a high estimated bill, which saves you money!

SSE jobs

If you are thinking about getting a job or starting your career at SSE, your first step is to see the available vacancies that they currently have on offer. These are not just within Great Britain; you can also see available jobs in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To name a few, here are some of the industries in which you could begin working:

• Customer service
• Business support
• Engineering
• Construction
• Renewable energy
• Smart metering

To get more information you should visit the SSE website, whose Careers section will redirect you to the OVO Careers page, which is the company you'll now need to apply to for SSE jobs.