Scottish Power are a company with a fascinating history. Beginning in 1901 as Clyde Valley Electrical Power (one of the earliest electric companies in the UK), they employed John Logie Baird in their infancy, who would later go on to invest the television. Throughout the years of publicly owned Scottish energy, the company supplied energy to hundreds of thousands of homes. The company was rebranded as Scottish Power in 1990, in preparation for the Scottish electricity industry to transition to private ownership. That new company was formed from the South of Scotland Electricity Board, also. Over the years, Scottish Power grew significantly, even acquiring Pacificorp, an American electricity company which services the western United States, before selling that business on to one of the world’s richest people – Warren Buffett. Scottish Power was taken over by Spanish energy company Iberdrola in March 2007 for a total of £11.6 billion.

Today, the company strive to provide customers with competitive gas and electricity rates and tariffs, as well as products and services that put their customers in control of their energy usage. That comes in many forms, from remote heating control solutions to boiler cover. Scottish Power also provide bespoke advice on how to cut down on your energy usage (and therefore save money), a service which many other utilities companies would be hesitant to provide, less it hurt their bottom line. Scottish Energy also have also had a partnership with Cancer Research UK dating back to 2012. The idea was to raise £5 million over three years. Not only did Scottish Power achieve this, but they’ve achieved it six months early, and now have plans to continue raising money for Cancer Research UK in the future.

Scottish Power have also committed to offering their customers the best possible deal, ensuring that you’ll always be paying the best prices possible for your energy. Indeed, they’ve actually been helping top fund the ‘Energy Best Deal’ campaign since 2008, in the hopes that the rest of the industry will catch up with this idea and help to make things better for every energy customer in the UK, both in business and in home life.

On top of that, Scottish Power have repeatedly stated that they are committed to green energy production in the UK. At present though, their fuel mix leaves a little something to be desired with 59% of energy coming from coal, 25.6% from natural gas, 1.3% from nuclear, 1.2% from ‘other’ and finally 12.9% from renewable sources. Those numbers aren’t bad, but they’re far from the best. The same goes for Scottish Power’s customer service record, which is rated at 41% by Which. Chief amongst complaints was the Scottish Power customer support number, which was said to be understaffed and therefore saddled with longer than normal wait times. Clearly then, there’s still work for Scottish Power to do in order to catch up to its bigger, nationwide competitors. For those with Scottish Power energy though, they should be pleased to know that their company is doing everything they can to make the world a better place.