British Gas 'bleeding bill payers dry' as profits hit £100m while some choose between 'heating or eating'

Centrica— that owns British Gas and looks after Scottish Gas and Bord Gáis— said that underlying earnings in British Gas Energy slumped to £159million in the six months to June 30 from £969million a year ago.

It said that around £500 million of the fall was due to the absence this year of energy crisis allowance payments.

Regulator Ofgem allowed energy suppliers to recover costs that they had racked up during the crisis, but this has now come to an end.

The owner of British Gas, Centrica, has blamed “normalising” market conditions after two years of bumper results for its heavy slide in profit in the first half of this year.

Despite the fall in profits, British Gas still made over £100million profits while many are pushed into fuel poverty.

A quarter of UK households living in social housing were forced to go without heating at points last winter, according to Switchee Housing Fuel Poverty Index.

Thousands more face fuel poverty this year as the energy price cap is set to increase from October.

Many people will be forced to choose between heating and eating due to high costs.

Fiona Waters, a spokesperson from Warm This Winter said: “Just how much money do we allow Centrica, who own British Gas, to make whilst six million people in the UK are officially in fuel poverty?

“They have already pocketed £7.5billion in profits since the start of the energy crisis, which is clearly only a crisis for ordinary folk who have to choose between heating and eating.

"It is not a crisis for these mega corporations who are bleeding bill payers dry and now Centrica has banked another billion before breakfast.

“It is just so unfair and there has to be a line drawn in the sand. That's why we’re calling for an end to the oil and gas industry profiteering by properly taxing the wider sector, including suppliers like British Gas and passing that onto households struggling to stay warm.”

The wider Centrica group reported underlying earnings of £1.04billion for the first half of 2024, but said group profitability will be “heavily weighted” to the first half.

The earnings reported are a near 50 per cent decline in adjusted operating profit for the six months to June 30, from £2.1billion to £1billion.

Basic earnings per share dropped from 25.8p to 12.8p, and its free cash flow fell from £1,377million to £816million. However, Its net cash position was up from £.3.1billion to £3.2billion.

Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition explained while Centrica makes hundreds of millions of pounds profit, hard-pressed households are cutting back on energy use and running up record levels of energy debt.

He urges the Government to do more in regards to to energy crisis as some people are even turning to illegal money lenders to help make ends meet.

Francis said: "These profits are built on the backs of the millions of people suffering from record energy prices, which are simply unaffordable.

"But the billion pound question now is what the Government does next?

"We need new ministers to tax these profits fairly and mend Britain's broken energy system. While Bringing down bills permanently will take time, there are actions which can be taken right now to help struggling households stay warm this winter - such as introducing support to tackle energy debt."

Chris O’Shea, group chief executive of Centrica, said: “Our core businesses continued to deliver in line with our expectations in the first half of 2024, against the backdrop of more normalised market conditions.

“Against the medium-term profit objectives we set out last year, we are on track to deliver two years ahead of schedule for the majority of our businesses, and we continue to ramp up our investment programme, including in innovative technologies that will support the UK and Ireland’s net zero ambitions.”

The company has announced that chairman Scott Wheway will step down after five years heading the board, to be replaced by senior independent director Kevin O’Byrne on December 16.