British Gas refuses to rule out higher energy bills...

[dutchman]

British Gas profits rose 3pc to £356m in the first half of the year as customers turned up their heating in the cold weather, but the company refused to rule out further price rises.



Parent company Centrica made adjusted operating profits of £1.58bn, up 9pc, with increased profits from its gas production and storage business offsetting a decline from its UK power plants.

British Gas raised its household energy prices by 6pc in November, while the exceptionally cold weather saw customers use 13pc more gas at the start of the year.

However, Centrica said much of this extra income was canceled out by “substantially higher costs for environmental obligations and network charges”.

It promised in May to use any “extra benefit” from the colder weather to freeze prices for “as long as possible” but refused to quantify the pledge.

In Wednesday’s trading update Centrica only said, in the context of the promise, it had “absorbed the significant increase in environmental costs during the period” and that full-year profits in the division would be in line with 2012.

British Gas faced calls from price comparison site uSwitch to commit to freezing prices.

“The fact that British Gas has absorbed increasing costs so far this year will be of cold comfort to consumers who may be fearing the worst - especially with rumours of price rises," the group said.
"Profits are up from last year, so we would urge British Gas to help quell customer’s fears and go one step further from its May pledge and commit to a price freeze for the rest of the year.

But Centrica finance director Nick Luff refused to rule out raising prices and said the extra profits in the British Gas division only equated to about an extra 70p per customer.

Analysts expect the company will raise its prices again this year.

[rebbonk]

Completely immoral.

[dutchman]

It's clear to me they'll keep raising prices until the government finally stops them from raising prices!