The owner of British Gas / Scottish Gas has reported underlying operating profits of £814 million for last year, down from £1.55 billion in 2024, making £163m from its retail businesses.
But the firm is no longer simply a retail supplier:
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Import reliance: Analysis shows the UK will soon be unable to meet heating demand from domestically extracted gas by 2027, making imported gas and the companies that control its supply even more critical to national energy security.
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Gas supply: Through a strategic import arrangement with Equinor, Centrica effectively controls around 10% of the UK’s gas supply, a share that gives it influence over the market just as the country becomes increasingly reliant on gas imports.
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Import infrastructure: Centrica also has part-ownership of a key gas import terminal, further underpinning its position at the heart of UK gas flows, pricing and security.
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Wholesale gas and power markets: Centrica is a major player in the market trading and optimisation of energy supply. This means it can profit from the volatility in the energy system. In July 2023, it was reported that market price movement meant that its energy marketing and trading division alone made £1.4 billion in profit during the year.
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Control of storage: Centrica remains the owner of the Rough gas storage facility, a key piece of infrastructure that helps balance supply in winter and mitigate price volatility, yet storage has sat below optimal levels in recent seasons, exposing households to supply risks and higher costs, as the firm argues it needs state support.
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Customer concerns: British Gas, owned by Centrica, was at the centre of the forced prepayment meter scandal, where vulnerable households were switched onto pay-as-you-go energy or faced the threat of disconnection. A formal investigation into the firm is still ongoing, almost three years after it was opened.
A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:
“Centrica’s profits are still mind boggling sums for people living in fuel poverty.
“The firm is much more than a household supplier, with real leverage over the nation’s energy supply and security. Through gas import deals, control of storage, stakes in key facilities and role in energy trading and price setting, Centrica sits at the centre of a market most of us only feel when the bills arrive.
“This influence matters because the country is becoming more reliant on imported gas as North Sea output declines. In that context, huge annual profits are not an accident, they reflect a system where utility companies extract value from relatively high bills while households struggle, especially as millions live in cold, damp homes.
“Ministers must ask whether the energy system really works for people, not for the big energy giants that have generated over £125bn in UK profits since 2020.”
Uplift Deputy Director Robert Palmer said:
“The latest profits add to the over £9 billion that Centrica has made since the start of the energy crisis in 2020, all while millions of people have struggled to afford their gas bills.
“The British Gas owner wants us to stay hooked on expensive gas, even though the UK has burned most of the gas that was in the North Sea. Regardless of any new drilling in the UK, we will be dependent on gas imports for nearly two thirds of our gas needs in just five years time and almost 100 per cent by 2050.
“The way to lower bills long term is to build more homegrown renewable energy and free ourselves from gas, whether that’s supplied by Putin’s Russia, Trump’s America or profit-hungry oil and gas companies.“
