Energy firm SSE has confirmed a return to half year profits and a bigger payout to shareholders, just two days before its household bills are due to rise by an average 8.2%.
The company made a pre-tax profit of £336.4m in the six months to 30 September following a loss of £41m in the same period last year.
But SSE said its retail arm, which supplies energy to homes, lost money in its first half while its other two divisions - covering areas including wholesale energy production and energy distribution - were both in profit.
It reported an operating loss of £89.4m for the retail division - blaming higher wholesale gas charges and the growing cost of Government 'green' levies.
Five of the 'big six' have confirmed bill increases for the coming winter The company said in October it was raising household gas and electricity bills by three times the rate of inflation to help counter an expected loss in the retail business.
SSE also confirmed in its latest results a 3.2% increase in its interim dividend payment to investors.
It pledged to hand out above inflation increases in its full year dividend, claiming this was vital to ensure the group is able to raise enough money to fund spending on its network.
Will Morris, group managing director of SSE's retail business, said: "Some politicians and media commentators have claimed recently that we value our shareholders more than our customers.
"Or to put it another way, we're focussed on paying them a dividend on their shares, regardless of what that means for our customers.
"Nothing could be further from the truth."
He added: "Without the investment made by shareholders, we couldn't afford to build the infrastructure or buy the equipment needed to deliver what customers need."
SSE - which trades as Southern Electric, Swalec and Scottish Hydro - revealed its customer numbers had dropped by 60,000 to 9.41 million since the end of March.
It was the first of the big six to raise its tariffs ahead of winter - with only E.ON yet to announce any increase but an announcement is expected later this month.
EDF Energy said yesterday it was increasing prices by 3.9% in January - far lower than many of its rivals - as the group said it would not pass on costs of Government green levies in anticipation of changes to how these schemes are paid for.
SSE has pledged to cut its 8.2% average increase back should ministers confirm the money will be stripped out of bills and paid for by general taxation.
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