British Gas profits show a 98% rise in first half of 2010

Centrica have announced that British Gas made operating profits of £585 million for the first half of the year.

Centrica, parent company of British Gas also released their profit increase of 65% to £1.56 billion

Being Britain’s largest domestic energy supplier, supplying power to half of UK households British Gas benefited from the cold winter with gas use rising by 8%.

The company also gained over 220,000 new customers when they cut their prices in February 2010.

Is 98% too much?

British Gas claim they have passed on their profits to customers through cutting their energy prices three times over the last year, but with profit numbers like 98% it is understandable many customer groups are suggesting that energy prices can and should be cut even further.

Despite this, British Gas have announced that customers can expect to see energy bills rise in future.

Centrica also stated that their customers are being more energy efficient than before, but this increased efficiency was offset by last year’s cold winter.

Do you think that a 98% rise in profits is too much for an energy supplier? Do you think that these profits are sufficiently being passed on to customers? Are you surprised that Centrica have announced massive profits and projected future price rises on the same day?

Subscribe to our RSS Feed to keep up to date with the latest UK energy news.