Stop picking on UK companies, says SSE boss Ian Marchant SSE has withstood that... but it does wear people down. There are people who say, 'Why on earth have you still got a retail business? It's 20pc of your profits and 90pc of your criticism, angst, management time."" SSE had no plans to offload parts of its business, he added. Mr Marchant was speaking after unveiling SSE's 14th consecutive annual rise in adjusted profits and raising its dividend by 5.1pc to 84.2p a share. Profits from supplying gas and power rose 34pc to £364.2m as usage soared in the cold weather. SSE also: warned that household energy bills could soon rise by another £80, with price cuts unlikely for years said policy uncertainty was making investment in new power plants almost impossible, reiterating warnings over looming power cuts or price spikes docked 40pc of Mr Marchant and other executives" bonuses over the mis-selling scandal, for which it was fined a record £10.5m Labour accused SSE, which raised prices by 9pc last year, of profiting at the expense of "spiralling bills for hard-pressed people." But Mr Marchant, who will step down from SSE on July 1 after 10 years at the helm, insisted the 4.2pc profit margin in SSE's energy supply business was "fair and reasonable" and said it aimed to increase that to 5pc. He claimed that SSE and fellow UK-listed giant Centrica, which owns British Gas, received a "disproportionate share of criticism" compared to the other four major suppliers that are owned by foreign companies. The only exception was tax, where German-owned npower has faced attacks for negligible corporation tax payments. "Us and Centrica are the good guys," Mr Marchant said. The guns have rightly been turned on others. But apart from that, we seem to get it every time. SSE warned that costs of government social and environmental schemes and power networks were rising and would add £80 of costs per dual fuel customer over the next year. "Unless there is a sustained reduction in prices in wholesale gas and electricity markets, it is highly likely that these additional costs will eventually have to be reflected in higher prices for household customers," SSE said, adding it intended to "resist this trend of higher costs for as long as possible to shield customers from the unwelcome impact of higher prices." Mr Marchant said he wanted prices to come back down but given rising costs any price cuts "might be a few years away." Mr Marchant made headlines two months ago by warning of a "very real risk of the lights going out" as old power stations close, while SSE mothballed some plants and stalled investment plans on others. His deputy and successor, Alistair Phillips-Davies, said that policy decisions were "clearly lacking" with the "persistent uncertainty" making investment decisions over gas-fired power plants "almost impossible." He said bluntly: "For this country as a whole, this is not a good place to be." Seven power plants that were needed to keep the lights on on a cold and wind-less December 12 were now all closed or partially closed, he said Mr Marchant said a repeat of December 12 should see power prices "jump significantly," which should see long-term prices rise, encouraging the building of new gas power plants which are currently uneconomic. SSE also said it had docked 40pc of Mr Marchant and other executives" bonuses over the mis-selling scandal, after regulator Ofgem accused management of a "woeful catalogue of failures" that saw more than 20,000 customers duped into paying more for their energy. SSE had faced calls for all bonuses to be axed but Mr Marchant said that would have been "unfair." However he waived the £329,000 he was awarded, using it to set up a new trust to train SSE employees.He said the decision was "absolutely nothing to do with" the mis-selling scandal and was his way of saying "thank you" to SSE's 20,000 staff. "It's my leaving present to the guys who have supported me and worked with me for 10 years," he said.