British Gas sees profits rocket
April 1, 2010 at 2:43 pm
British Gas has revealed record profits for the year, provoking widespread criticism of the high bills that its customers continue to receive. It saw a 58% rise in its annual profits to nearly £595 million, up from £376 million in 2008. Its previous record profit was £573 million in 2007.
The energy giant recently dropped its customer bills by 7%, but this has now been derided by many as a way to soften the blow of the revelation of the company’s huge profits. This has led to calls to cut prices even further, with the strongest coming from Ed Miliband, the energy secretary.
He said that, although the power company had made a start, he wanted to “see more reductions from British Gas”, also calling for the other companies to follow suit. The Liberal Democrats energy spokesman, Simon Hughes, said that the profits show that energy companies are “out of control”.
But British Gas has not announced any further plans for cuts. Sam Laidlaw, the chief executive of Centrica, which is the parent group of British Gas, said that they will “do what we can do when we can”. He also said that bad insulation was one reason for higher bills in the UK, and that energy is actually cheaper in the UK than in many European countries.
British Gas provides power to over 15.7 million households across the UK, making it the biggest energy supplier in the country. Last year it increased its customers by 141,000. Operating profits after tax were £38 for every household that it serves.
