BG first-half profits rise 23%

Consumerist

We all suspected it and now the truth is out.

What now for energy prices next winter?

MillicentBystander

Govts. of any hue just don't care (hence them continuing with such a toothless regulator) - don't forget they are creaming off 5% of the total fuel sales plus the tax on the profits. They can't lose....

Consumerist

It was just a few months ago that Centrica/BG was predicting that energy prices would need to rise by 15% next winter. I think they will have a hard time justifying that position now.

As life gets more difficult for most of us in the current recession, I think this government is going to get a lot of flack if it fails to make the right noises about rising energy costs to consumers.

In the end, the government will find itself virtually powerless to act, however.

Hundleton1

I'm not defending BG in this at all however the news is being a bit misleading with the percentage increase making it sound like huge profits per customer

Basses on a profit of £323M for the 6 months for BG UK dOmestic arm and a total of £15M customers they have made a profit of £42 per customer a year.

Yes they have made a lot of money BUT in reality per customer profit is still very low. Roughly £3.40 per month. Even if they halved there profits we are not going to see any real savings.

The problem lies with the market it's self.

MillicentBystander

I think the 15m customer figure is customer accounts, surely? That would mean a customer with a dual fuel deal would count as 2 customers, no?

Consumerist

MillicentBystander wrote: »

I think the 15m customer figure is customer accounts, surely? That would mean a customer with a dual fuel deal would count as 2 customers, no?

It is and you raise an interesting point. My dual-fuel energy bill (not BG) is on a single customer account.

Edit
It occurs to me that Economy 7 customers with two meters may count as two customers, however.

ihateyes

Yip as pointed out above.....

Sky report 345,000,000 profit with 15,800,000 customers.

So if you divide that its around £21.71 profit per customer.

Hardly profiteering.. remember your domino's pizza at 11.99 carries a profit of around £8.......

macman

The average weekly visit to Tesco probably brings them more profit than BG make per customer in a year...

Only_a_ginger

Fair play to them.

Businesses exist to make a profit, they've made a tiny profit.

The media need someone to hound, I'm glad the folks on here see round the medias biased reporting

Cardew

macman wrote: »

The average weekly visit to Tesco probably brings them more profit than BG make per customer in a year...

We have this discussion every year.

Tesco's profits fell last year to £2.5billion!

Taking the UK population as 60 million that is over £40 profit for every man, woman and child in the UK.

Extending this point - Tesco apparently have 29.7% of the UK market. So from the average family of four, Tesco make around £500 a year in profit.

Hundleton1

I just could not believe the way the BBC was making it sound like they are ripping every customer off.