Scottish Power To Cut Gas Prices By 5.4%

Scottish Power has become the latest Big Six provider to reduce gas prices as it announced a cut of 5.4%.

The supplier said the cut would take effect from 15 March and benefit more than a million customers, with the average standard bill falling by £32.

Scottish Power, owned by Spain's Ibderdrola, is following recent gas price cuts of 5.3% and 5.1% announced by rivals SSE (LSE: SSE.L - news) and E.ON.

Energy suppliers have been under pressure to pass on the falling costs of gas in the global wholesale market to their customers, although some consumer groups think the scale of cuts so far does not go far enough.

Scottish Power also said a new dual fuel tariff announced last week that fixes prices until 2018 was the cheapest in the market. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) said nearly half of its customers were now on fixed price products.

Neil Clitheroe, the firm's chief executive for retail and generation, said: "This latest price reduction means the average annual gas bill on standard tariff will reduce by £32 as of 15 March with over one million customers benefiting from reduced prices."

Scottish Power serves 3.2 million households across the UK.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating the energy market since last summer.

An early report by the CMA last February found that the large companies were overcharging loyal customers who did not switch suppliers by up to £234 a year.