Ovo completes purchase of SSE – what it means for customers

Ovo Group now has a combined customer base of five million, with three million SSE customers joining the one and a half million already supplied by Ovo, making the group one of the biggest suppliers in Britain.

However, Ovo says nothing will change for SSE customers – it will continue to operate SSE as a separate supplier for the time being. This means your tariff, how you pay for your energy and how you manage your account will stay exactly the same.

The only possible change SSE customers will see is Ovo's name mentioned in the small print of their contract.

It's not just energy, Ovo also now owns SSE's phone and broadband, and boiler and heating insurance services. Similar to energy, nothing changes with your contract or your account and your relationship is still with SSE.

The same applies for Ovo customers, things will continue as normal and you won't see any change.

To see how much you could save by switching your energy provider, do a full market comparison via our free Cheap Energy Club.

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

Nothing will change yet, and there's nothing you need to do at this point. You'll still be supplied under the SSE brand, and Ovo says it will be in touch with SSE customers when there's any more news.

Your energy supplier will continue as normal, you'll stay on the same tariff as you are now, pay in exactly the same way and continue to manage your account – online and offline – as you do now.

You're free to switch away from SSE at any point – though be aware, if your tariff has exit fees you'll still be charged – and if you want to join SSE, you can still switch to the supplier as normal.

According to Ovo, "for now, it's business as usual", though it is working to "integrate" SSE. If you're not sure of anything, the supplier has published a comprehensive list of FAQs.

I get my phone and broadband or boiler and heating insurance from SSE – what does this mean for me?

Similar to energy, nothing will change with your phone and broadband account and your service is unaffected.

Nothing will change about your boiler and heating cover, and you'll continue to be covered until the end of your contract, just as before.

For both services, Ovo will contact you if there are any changes in the future.

What does Ovo say?

Ovo founder and chief executive Stephen Fitzpatrick said: "Today is an exciting day. It marks the end of one chapter for Ovo but, more importantly, the beginning of the next one together with SSE Energy Services. We started Ovo with a bold ambition to do better for customers and have stayed true to that vision ever since.

"We have an integration plan that leaders from both companies have collaborated on since September. There is a lot of work to do to bring the two businesses together, but we have a really strong combination of great talent, technology and customer centricity that will enable us to succeed.

"SSE's history of excellence at scale combined with Ovo's innovative technology and our Plan Zero commitments mean that together, as one team, we can bring millions more people with us on our journey towards zero carbon living."