We have updated our estimates following SSE’s pre-close statement, and last week’s announcement that the corporation tax rate will remain at 19% in April. Many moving parts, with FY23E EPS cut by 7% to 128.6p (Figure 1), but still consistent with SSE’s guidance of ‘at least 120p’. 1H23 are due on 16th November, and we set out our granular estimates (Figure 2). Our EPS estimate of 40.6p is consistent with SSE’s guidance of ‘at least 40p’. The utter chaos that has followed last Friday’s mini-budget has heightened political uncertainty, and created open goals for Labour tap-ins. Many will argue that this is utility-unfriendly, but regulatory mechanisms offer protection through the cost of capital formation, indexation, and frequency of resets. Volatile gilt markets make it likely that we will need to revisit our RIIO-ED2 cost of equity estimate again in the run-up to December’s final determinations, but reflecting current conditions, we now model an allowed cost of equity of 5.34% CPIH real, up from 4.95%. Labour’s plans for a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030 are extremely ambitious, not least due to the complexities of planning, and likely supply chain challenges with the western world chasing the same ball. That said, the ambition should be applauded, and if it removes planning bottlenecks, and expedites regulatory processes, we argue that this is positive for SSE’s direction of travel. The benefits of a 19% tax rate, and our higher allowed cost of equity assumption, offset a higher WACC (5.1% vs. 4.8%), and our target price nudges up to 1,920p. Macro chaos has created an attractive entry point. BUY.