Centrica’s “astonishingly high profits” make the case for public ownership of the sector, Unite’s general secretary has said.
Sharon Graham was speaking in response to Centrica’s preliminary results for 2023 in which it revealed its British Gas arm made bumper profits thanks to recovering around £500 million via the price cap.
The group posted a total adjusted operating profit of almost £2.8 billion, down 20% from £3.3 billion in 2022.
However, British Gas saw a more than 940% increase in profits to £751 million compared to the £72 million it made in 2022.
Commenting on the news, Graham said: “British Gas owner Centrica is still raking in astonishingly high profits off the back of exorbitant energy bills that are nearly double what they were three years ago.
“There is no point beating around the bush: The only way to stop households and businesses being ripped off by the profiteers in our energy supply chain is public ownership.
“It is an absolutely affordable option that would protect the national interest. Our politicians need to decide whose side they are on and make the right choices.”
News of Centrica’s profits has been met with further disdain by some consumer groups.
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “These profits are still astronomical for a firm providing the energy people need to stay warm and safe.
“These huge profits are one of the reasons households have had to cut back so much on their spending, sending Britain crashing into a recession.
“The government failed to take enough action to help people with their energy costs this winter, but maybe now the result of their inaction is a hammer blow to their own targets. Maybe they’ll wake up to the suffering of households caused by energy prices remaining at record levels.”
Warm This Winter spokesperson Fiona Waters commented: “British Gas’s obscene profits just epitomise rip off Britain where bosses are paid millions each year at the expense of ordinary people, millions of whom are living in cold damp homes because they simply cannot afford to pay their huge energy bills.
“The cumulative effect of price increases is breaking household finances up and down the country. Meanwhile, politicians in their Westminster bubble persist in trading insults and throwing around numbers which are meaningless to most people.
“We need a government with the ambition to put people first and tackle Britain’s broken energy system by investing in cheaper renewable energy and home insulation to bring energy bills down for good.”
While the price cap allowances resulted in a c.£500 million boost for British Gas, the company stressed that without this, profit would have been less than half the reported number.
“British Gas Energy was loss making in the second half and profit is down from the £969 million reported at interims,” Centrica added.
Speaking shortly after the results were published, Centrica’s chief executive Chris O’Shea defended the company’s profits.
He said: “I’ve said this before and I want to take this opportunity to say it again, to be sustainable you must make a profit. This is super important because every consumer in the UK is paying £88 for the failure of other energy suppliers in the last few years.
“If more companies fail, these costs go on to customer bills. Now our balanced portfolio is designed to make us a strong, resilient company and we believe that’s how all suppliers should be.”