ScottishPower has welcomed today's announcement by Offer that competition in the domestic and small business electricity market is to be introduced, on schedule, on Monday 14 September 1998.

Offer announced today that the Motherwell, Airdrie and Lanark area will be able to choose their own electricity supplier as from 17 August. This will be the first area in Scotland opened up to competition.

Charles Berry, Managing Director of Energy Supply said: "We have been preparing for this historic day and I am glad to report that both ScottishPower and Manweb have met the Regulator's requirements and are ready to open up their areas to competition on schedule. I believe only four companies are in this position."

Charles Berry said: "We welcome customer choice - we are confident that the vast majority of our electricity customers will remain with ScottishPower because of the quality of service and prices we offer and we eagerly look forward to the opportunity to win customers in other areas. This has been shown in the gas market where we have attracted more than 400,000 customers to ScottishPower."

He added: "The average annual household electricity bill from ScottishPower is now £263.09. This represents the lowest bill in real terms since 1974. Earlier this month we also reduced costs even further for our pre-payment customers and those customers who pay their bills promptly. We are also the first energy company to introduce a single energy bill, with our Gas and Electricity Offer providing a single point of contact and extra savings on energy costs."

Further Information:
ScottishPower Press Office                          0141 248 8200

Note to Editors:
Average annual household electricity bill shown based on an annual usage of 3,300 kWh on ScottishPower's Domestic tariff and excludes VAT.