e-commerce Strategy

Scottish & Southern Energy PLC
19 May 2000


SIMPLE2.CO.UK LAUNCHES SCOTTISH AND SOUTHERN ENERGY E-COMMERCE
                           STRATEGY
                               
Scottish and Southern Energy today makes the first of a series
of announcements outlining its e-commerce strategy for its 3.7
million energy customers with a £10M investment to create a
new company, Simple2.co.uk.

Simple2 will formally launch its website later this autumn and
will offer a wide range of financial services from a
significant number of product providers, including; low cost
and stakeholder pensions, mortgages, ISA's, term assurance and
other insurance products.  The new company will be led by a
management team recruited from the financial services industry
which has extensive experience in providing independent
financial advice to the business sector.   IBM will develop
the software as part of their $50M development agreement with
Scottish and Southern Energy.

Simple2 will be the first web based company to offer virtual
employee benefits and capture the opportunity presented by the
introduction of stakeholder pensions legislation by the
Government on 1 April 2001.   The first product to be offered
will be on-line stakeholder pensions, which in the first
instance will be offered to business customers throughout the
UK.  Negotiations with several of the UK's leading financial
services product providers are at an advanced stage.

Commenting on the announcement, David Sigsworth who will be
the Chairman of Simple2 said 'We believe the Internet will
become an increasingly important channel to market.  Simple2
offers us a very exciting opportunity to build an Internet
based business via our existing customer base and we are
delighted to have a team on board with such extensive
experience in the financial services sector.

'Its first product offering, the low cost pension, captures a
niche market which businesses are now urgently addressing.
Simple2 is very different from other similar e-commerce
launches because our customers will be able to choose products
from a wide range of providers, we're not tied to one company.
By marketing it to our existing business customers in the
first instance we can add value for them and build a solid
foundation for the future.

'We will be making a further announcement shortly giving
additional details of our e-commerce strategy for the Group's
3.7 million energy customers, offering them the additional
option of online services as a complement to the telephone,
paper and retail based customer service options which already
exist.'

For further information contact;


Carolyn McAdam                        01738 455113
Director of Corporate Communications           
Scottish and Southern Energy    
                                
Andrew Dowler                         020 7269 7140
Financial Dynamics