SSE loses customers on pricing competition

(Reuters) - SSE Plc <SSE.L>, Britain's second-largest energy supplier, lost 320,000 customer accounts in the first quarter, hurt by competition from newer, smaller rivals.

Total customer accounts fell to 7.45 million as of June 30 from 7.77 million as of June end last year, the company said.

Unusually warm weather and persistently high gas prices hurt adjusted operating profit by about 80 million pounds in the quarter, SSE said.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)