SSE issued a profit warning on Friday after revealing it had lost 160,000 customers in the last three months of 2018.

The energy giant also said that a European Court ruling, which halted state aid for UK energy companies, would also impact earnings.

Accordingly, the company reduced its earnings forecast per share to be between 64p to 69p.

The company said it would be maintaining its full-year dividend of 97.5p per share.

Alistair Phillips-Davies, chief executive of SSE, commented: “We continue to make good progress in our core businesses of regulated energy networks and renewable energy, complemented by flexible thermal generation and business energy sales. We have also demonstrated our ability to create value for shareholders through the recent sales of stakes in our telecoms business and selected onshore wind farms with expected proceeds of over £1bn. We are also making progress in assessing the options for the future of the energy services business.

“SSE has a clear strategy and good long-term prospects for its high-quality core businesses and assets that contribute to the transition to a low carbon economy and will support the creation of value and delivery of our dividend plan in the years to come.”

SSE is considere to be one of the “big six energy providers” in the UK.

Nevertheless, the country’s largest energy firms have been struggling as of late.

Fierce competition and rising energy prices have led many of the top providers to shed a considerable amount of customers.

Rival provider British Gas, which is owned by Centrica (LON:CNA), lost 1.3 million energy accounts in 2017 alone.

SSE shares (LON:SSE) are currently up marginally at +0.47% as of 11:01AM (GMT).