traded as lse sse industry energy founded 1998 ; 18 years ago 1998 headquarters perth scotland portsmouth england area served great britain & ireland key people richard gillingwater cbe chairman alistair phillips davies ceo products electricity natural gas broadband brands scottish and southern electricity networks southern electric scottish hydro swalec airtricity services power generation and distribution natural gas production transportation and distribution revenue 31 654.4 million 2015 1 operating income 1 723.0 million 2015 1 net income 664.4 million 2015 1 number of employees 19 965 2015 1 website www.sse.com sse plc formerly scottish and southern energy plc is a scottish energy company headquartered in perth scotland . 2 3 it is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . sse operates in ireland and the united kingdom . it is involved in the generation and supply of electricity and gas the operation of gas and telecoms networks and other energy related services such as gas storage exploration and production contracting connections and metering . it is considered as one of the big six that dominate the energy market in the united kingdom . contents 1 history 1.1 origins 1.2 post privatisation 2 operations 3 generation mix 3.1 renewables 3.2 thermal 4 corporate affairs 4.1 living wage 4.2 fair tax mark 4.3 sponsorship 5 main locations 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit origins edit the company has its origins in two public sector electricity supply authorities . the former north of scotland hydro electric board was founded in 1943 to design construct and manage hydroelectricity projects in the highlands of scotland and took over further generation and distribution responsibilities on the nationalisation of the uk s electricity industry in 1948 . the former southern electricity board was created in 1948 to distribute electricity in southern england . whilst the southern electricity board was a distribution only authority with no power generation capacity of its own the north of scotland hydro electric board was a broader spectrum organisation with its own generating capabilities . because of its history and location the hydro electric board was responsible for most of the uk s hydroelectric generating capacity . both authorities were privatised in 1990 91 initially retaining their pre privatisation geographic and functional bases . the north of scotland hydro electric board became scottish hydro electric whilst the southern electricity board became southern electric . post privatisation edit scottish and southern energy was formed in 1998 following a merger between scottish hydro electric and southern electric . 4 in 2000 scottish and southern energy acquired the swalec energy supply business . 4 in 2004 the company acquired the ferrybridge and fiddlers ferry power stations for 250million . 5 in 2008 it went on to buy airtricity holdings an irish wind farm business . 6 in 2009 it agreed to purchase uskmouth power station from welsh power group limited . 7 in april 2010 the company purchased the natural gas exploration and production assets of hess corporation in three areas of the united kingdom continental shelf everest lomond easington and bacton . 8 in january 2010 scottish and southern energy changed the core company branding from scottish and southern energy to sse . 9 operations edit a scottish and southern energy van 2011 . the company is the second largest supplier of electricity and natural gas in the united kingdom and the uk s largest generator of renewable energy . 10 it incorporates the brands airtricity swalec southern electric scottish hydro electric and atlantic electric and gas . it also owns southern electric power distribution scottish hydro electric power distribution and scottish hydro electric transmission . its subsidiaries are organised into the main businesses of generation transmission distribution and supply of electricity ; storage and supply of gas ; electrical and utility contracting and domestic appliance retailing and telecoms . grid connections are more difficult in north scotland which receives funding from the rest of the uk to reduce tariffs . 11 sse also has an equity interest of 50 % in and provides corporate and management services to scotia gas networks which owns southern gas networks and scotland gas networks . its contracting business has five main areas of activity industrial commercial and domestic mechanical and electrical contracting ; data communications ; high voltage design and maintenance ; electrical and instrumentation engineering and public and highway lighting . in march 2016 sse announced it would be closing all branches of its scottish hydro electric shops and the accompanying online store 12 citing changing shopping habits and more customer choice meant the shops have been loss making for a number of years . generation mix edit renewables edit sse had 3 326mw of renewable capacity by the end of march 2014 including its share of joint ventures . the portfolio comprised net 1 150mw conventional hydro 940mw onshore wind gb 544mw onshore wind ire 355mw offshore wind 300mw pumped storage at loch mh r 13 38mw dedicated biomass . sse wholesale generation . in march 2014 sse withdrew investment in four major offshore wind farms . it plans to sell its stake in the galloper wind farm and pull investment from the islay dogger bank and firth of forth wind farms . sse blamed limited subsidies and high costs . 14 thermal edit at 30 september 2013 sse had an ownership interest in 9 553mw of thermal generation plant in great britain and ireland comprising net 4 262mw of gas fired and oil fired generation gb 3 009mw of coal fired generation gb 1068 mw of gas fired generation ire corporate affairs edit living wage edit sse is the uk s largest officially accredited living wage employer . nearly 20 000 staff across the uk are guaranteed to receive the living wage rate of at least 7.85 an hour . 15 sse works closely with the living wage foundation and was awarded the living wage champion award for scotland in 2014 . fair tax mark edit in october 2014 sse became the first ftse 100 company to be awarded the fair tax mark which is an independent accreditation process for identifying companies making an effort to be transparent about their tax affairs . 16 sponsorship edit the sse hydro is an arena located in glasgow scotland on the site of the scottish exhibition and conference centre secc . the arena officially opened on 30 september 2013 and has a capacity of 13 000 . it was designed by the london based architects foster partners . the sse hydro hosts international musical stars global entertainment and sporting events with an aim to attract one million visitors each year . the company also sponsors wembley arena in london and the sse arena formerly known as the odyssey arena part of the odyssey complex in belfast . main locations edit sse s main offices are located in havant perth cumbernauld basingstoke and cardiff . see also edit scotland portal energy portal companies portal energy policy of scotland electricity in northern ireland energy use and conservation in the united kingdom green electricity in the united kingdom peterhead power station references edit a b c d annual report 2015 pdf . sse . retrieved 26 march 2016 . registered in scotland no. 117119 . perth scottish and southern energy plc. retrieved 29 september 2011 . brodie sophie 5 january 2008 . the scottish utility . the telegraph . london . retrieved 29 september 2011 . a b sse plc the uk s broadest based energy company . scottish southern.co.uk . retrieved 21 march 2015 . scottish & southern buys fiddlers ferry business news business the independent . the independent . retrieved 21 march 2015 . scottish & southern to buy irish windfarm firm sse plc the uk s broadest based energy company . scottish southern.co.uk . retrieved 21 march 2015 . kennedy simon 1 april 2010 . scottish & southern buys hess assets for 423 mln . marketwatch . retrieved 1 april 2010 . first press release with new branding scottish and southern energy annual report 2009 assistance for areas with high electricity distribution costs national grid . retrieved 2 august 2016 . sse to close remaining scottish hydro electric shops . bbc news . retrieved 2016 04 01 . foyers hydro electric power scheme gazetteer for scotland . retrieved 13 november 2015 . sse scraps 20bn offshore wind farm plan and questions viability of sector . telegraph.co.uk . 26 march 2014 . retrieved 21 march 2015 . energy firm sse signs up as living wage employer . bbc . 27 september 2013 . retrieved 27 october 2014 . sse leads way in campaign for fairer taxation . herald . 19 october 2014 . retrieved 27 october 2014 . external links edit official website sse official twitter channel southern electric swalec scottish hydro atlantic electric and gas scottish and southern energy power distribution links to related articles v t e energy in scotland energy in the united kingdom sectors nuclear power renewable energy wind power companies and organisations current aquamarine power community energy scotland edf energy european marine energy centre freds national grid office for nuclear regulation score group sgn scottish government energy department scottish gas scottish power sse wood group defunct british energy pelamis wave power scottish hydro electric scottish nuclear south of scotland electricity board wavegen active power stations hydro electric northern scheme cruachan breadalbane tummel foyers scheme sloy awe scheme galloway scheme glendoe scheme lanark scheme kinlochewe talladale scheme nuclear hunterston b torness oil and gas peterhead lerwick wave islay limpet wind ardrossan arecleoch beatrice beinn an tuirc black law braes of doune clyde cruach mh r crystal rig farr hadyard hill hare hill pates hill whitelee other dundee incinerator greengairs lerwick incinerator steven s croft westfield decommissioned power stations coal barony 1980s braehead 1980s cockenzie 2013 kincardine 1997 longannet 2016 methil 2000 pinkston portobello 1977 yoker 1976 nuclear chapelcross 2004 dounreay 1994 hunterston a 1990 oil and gas inverkip 1988 fife 2011 other energy policy of scotland sustainable development in scotland category commons v t e ftse 100 companies of the united kingdom ftse 250 3i admiral group anglo american antofagasta ashtead group associated british foods astrazeneca aviva bae systems bhp billiton bp babcock international barclays barratt developments british american tobacco british land bt group bunzl burberry capita carnival centrica coca cola hbc compass group crh croda international dcc diageo direct line group dixons carphone easyjet experian fresnillo gkn glaxosmithkline glencore hammerson hargreaves lansdown hikma pharmaceuticals hsbc imperial brands informa intercontinental hotels group international airlines group intertek intu properties itv johnson matthey kingfisher land securities group legal & general lloyds banking group london stock exchange group marks & spencer mediclinic international merlin entertainments micro focus international mondi morrisons national grid next old mutual paddy power betfair pearson persimmon polymetal international provident prudential randgold resources royal bank of scotland reckitt benckiser relx group rio tinto group rolls royce royal dutch shell royal mail rsa insurance group sage group j sainsbury schroders severn trent shire sky smith & nephew smiths group sse standard chartered standard life st. james s place taylor wimpey tesco travis perkins tui unilever united utilities vodafone whitbread wolseley worldpay wpp v t e united kingdom power companies big six suppliers british gas edf energy e.on uk npower sse scottish power distribution companies northern powergrid sp energy networks electricity north west western power distribution scottish and southern energy power distribution uk power networks transmission companies national grid scottish hydro electric transmission sp transmission sgn other suppliers the co operative energy ecotricity esb international extra energy first utility good energy opus energy ovo energy telecom plus total gas & power retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sse plc & oldid 743730758 categories sse plc1998 establishments in scotlandcompanies based in perth and kinrosscompanies established in 1998companies listed on the london stock exchangeelectric power distribution network operatorsorganisations based in perth scotlandpower companies of scotlandutilities of scotlandwind power companies of scotlandhidden categories use dmy dates from july 2013use british english from july 2013pages