Airtricity owner SSE facing 'difficult' conditions

UK energy giant SSE, which owns Airtricity, insisted it was battling “difficult” energy market conditions as it revealed a £115.4m (€137.2m) loss in its retail supply business just weeks after announcing a hike in household bills.

The group, which has more than nine million customers and is the UK’s second largest generator of electricity, blamed the performance on rising costs of wholesale energy, environmental and social policies and distribution.