Covid-19: from lockdown to green recovery

All employees who can work from home are doing so, and, where work cannot be done from home, we’re continuing to operate in line with jurisdictional guidance, to help keep our employees and communities safe.

We’ll keep you updated via this website with the actions we’re taking in response to Covid-19 and Government restrictions – our latest updates are highlighted below. Hopefully, we’ll see some light at the end of the tunnel in the coming months, with the fast roll-out of new vaccines.

In fact, there’s a lot to be positive about. SSE’s greenprint has given the UK Government a clear pathway to meeting the twin objectives of helping the economy rebound whilst taking climate action to meet net zero targets. We’ve backed this with a plan to invest £7.5bn in the next five years to support decarbonisation and get the economy moving.

And SSE has been confirmed as a major partner for the flagship COP26 climate summit in to be held in Glasgow in November this year. We’re proud to be a principal partner to the UK Government for the event which will see world leaders look to agree more ambitious climate change targets to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees.

We’re here to support your business through the pandemic and on the pathway to a greener future.

Making sure meter readings are up to date

For sectors that remain open, we’ll attempt to read the meters. However, our meter reading provider MDS won’t be calling on closed premises in lockdown. We’re prioritising sites where no read has been obtained for a year or more. Your meter may not need reading urgently; for example, if your last bill was based on an actual read.

Please submit your own meter readings:

• Online here
• By calling our meterline on 0345 071 9894
• By calling the meter reader if they’ve left a card or message
• Via email to b2b.meter.readings@sse.com – please include the meter point number (MPAN/MPRN) and your account number otherwise we cannot record it. If you’re unsure which figures to give us, you can take a photo and send it to us.

Metering appointments, including smart installs

All appointments are by agreement with customers and, as part of Covid-19 guidelines, we’ll call you in advance of the visit to ensure it’s safe to attend.

We continue to install electric and gas SMETS2 smart meters with our metering partner, SMS. If you’d like to find out more, please click here. You can learn about smart meters and how you can unlock energy and cost savings as well as easy, accurate billing, removing the need for manual readings.

If there’s an issue with an account or meter, we’ll avoid travel in to and out of areas in lockdown wherever possible, but may still visit empty sites to disconnect for safety reasons.

We’ll take safety precautions and carry out Covid-19 risk assessing before going into any premises.

Problems paying bills?

We’re currently offering a short-term payment option to customers. This payment plan will enable you to spread the cost of any current arrears over 12 weekly repayments, with payment in full of all future invoices. If you’d like to benefit from this offer, please email us at businesspayments@sse.com and one of the team will reply to acknowledge your request and clarify the payment amounts expected from you.

During the period of lockdown, we’d encourage you to reduce electricity and gas consumption where possible by switching off any non-essential equipment at site as this will reduce the cost of your ongoing invoices. If your business has been impacted by Covid-19 and you need to update your energy usage details, please let us know using this form.

To make sure you receive important post from us, please update your billing address if required. Visit our contact us form and under Category, please select SME billing query on the dropdown menu, then Billing address amendments, and tell us whether the change is temporary or permanent – or for our larger corporate customers, contact your account manager.

Do energy supply contracts still need renewing?

Out of contract rates are likely to be higher than our contract prices, so to avoid increased costs we suggest renewing your power or gas contract before it expires. You can look for your contract end date on a previous bill, if you don’t receive a renewal notice because your site is closed or you’re working from home, for example.

For a quote, please give our Sales team a call on 0800 389 4466 or visit https://www.sseenergysolutions.co.uk/quote (online quoting is available for micro business and small and medium enterprise customers only) or get in touch with your account manager.

Any questions?

You can read our latest Covid-19 FAQs.