British Gas profits soar by 900% after energy companies allowed to make more money from household bills
27 July 2023, 08:37
British Gas profits rose by nearly 900% in the first half of 2023, its owner has said.
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Profits at the electricity and gas supplier jumped to £969 million in the six months to June 30 from £98 million in the same period a year earlier - an increase of 889%.
Centrica, which owns British Gas, said the result was buoyed as Ofgem's price cap in the first half of the year - when customers saw their bills limited to £2,500 a year under the Energy Price Guarantee - allowed it to recoup losses seen a year earlier - to the tune of about £500 million.
Centrica posted an £6.5 billion operating profit overall in the first six months of the year, compared to operating losses of £1.1 billion a year earlier.
On an underlying basis, operating profits rose to £2.1 billion from £1.3 billion a year ago.
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Big swings in energy prices helped the company's energy marketing and trading division, which made £1.4 billion in profit during the year, an enormous 1,900% increase from the year before.
The company's full-year operating profits for 2022 reached £3.3 billion, more than three times higher than the £948 million posted the year before.
Chris O’Shea, the Centrica chief executive, said the company would use its bumper profits to increase its customer support package for people struggling with energy bills to more than £100m and invest “several billion pounds” in the transition to green energy.
Mr O’Shea said: "I’m proud of the incredible work our colleagues do every day to help customers struggling with the cost of living crisis. We are doing more than any other UK energy company and we will continue to be there when our customers need us."
Campaigners and trade unionists pointed to the contrast between people finding it difficult to pay their bills, and the company's large profits.
Simon Francis, a coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said the company's huge profits were “a further sign of Britain’s broken energy system."
Mr Francis said: “At a time when household energy debt is spiralling to record levels and energy bills remain double what they were just a few years ago, the profits posted will be greeted with disbelief by those struggling through the crisis."
Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said: “While families across Britain have struggled to pay their bills, energy companies have been allowed to laugh all the way to the bank.”
