Rise in profits at British Gas raises questions over price cuts and policies

Despite taking their time to cut energy prices in line with the drop in wholesale energy price reductions and only doing so following significant public pressure, British Gas has just recorded a profit spike of 31%, its owners, Centrica, have recently reported.

Overall, the British Gas owner reported an £857m loss across the group after writing down the value of its North Sea assets, a news source can reveal.

Centrica CEO Iain Conn commented on this announcement: ‘The reason the profits went up in 2015 versus 2014 is actually very simple,’ he said. ‘It’s about the weather and about consumption. And we saw a very mild 2014 and we saw a more normal 2015 and therefore the amount of energy that our customers used went up and therefore the actual total profit went up.’

On the other hand, Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com said, ‘Hearing news of rising profits when wholesale energy prices have tumbled will leave many British Gas customers wondering if they’re being treated fairly.’

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