Regulator approves sale of SSE energy business to Ovo

In September, Ovo announced plans to buy SSE for £500 million, bringing its total customer base to five million.

The sale has now been approved by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and is expected to be completed next month.

Ovo says there will be no changes for its existing customers as a result of the sale and the two companies will continue to operate separately until January 2020.

Beyond January, Ovo says it will carefully plan how to move SSE customers onto its systems. It says this will be a "gradual process", and that there won't be any interruption to service or changes to tariffs. 

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I'm an SSE customer – what does this mean for me?

Nothing has changed yet, and you're still an SSE customer. There's nothing you need to do at this point, and Ovo says it will be in touch with SSE customers after the transaction is due to complete to keep them updated on any news.

Even after the sale is expected to complete in January, Ovo says its and SSE's existing billing systems will carry on operating as normal, so there shouldn't be any interruption to service.

It also says there will be no changes to tariffs at this point, for customers on fixed or standard variable tariffs.

And Ovo will carry on operating the SSE brand "for some time", meaning SSE customers will carry on being served under the SSE name and won't see any changes to their accounts.

What does Ovo say?

Ovo founder and chief executive Stephen Fitzpatrick said: "There is a lot of work to be done, but we're excited about the challenge ahead and the opportunity to help even more customers on the journey to zero carbon."