MSE News: British Gas profits up, but it won't rule out price rises

Former_MSE_Darryl

"British Gas owner Centrica says profits from its residential energy arm rose by 3.2% to £356 million following a freezing winter — but it isn't ruling out future price rises."

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British Gas profits up, but it won't rule out price rises



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Wywth

..."Wholesale gas prices have not risen significantly...

Are wholsale gas prices in Europe no longer pegged to oil prices?

I thought oil prices were currently on the up, hence why petrol & diesel prices are currently going up.

DragonQ

It's good that they'll delay any price rises "as long as possible"...presumably they mean as long as possible before their profits dip by 10p/year.

RHYSDAD

I've never changed from them but i'm thinking now i might just have a look around..

Nada666

Move along. Nothing to read here. There is no story.

Cardew

This article for last year puts BG's profits into perspective.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/damianreece/9684331/British-Gas-makes-just-92p-a-week-profit-per-household-why-all-the-anger.html

As discussed in Parliament this week, the real issue is how much profit the parents arm of the distribution companies make(Centrica in the case of BG)

One thing seems certain, if it is 'Rip-Off Britain' it is also 'Rip-off Europe as our prices are not more expensive.

ic

Elsewhere in the news, Diana still dead, Autumn follows summer and Government remains untrusted.

Cardew

ic wrote: »

Elsewhere in the news, Diana still dead, QUOTE]

But Elvis isn't dead!

wakeupalarm

Cardew wrote: »

One thing seems certain, if it is 'Rip-Off Britain' it is also 'Rip-off Europe as our prices are not more expensive.

But we've supposedly have had 25+ years of private companies running things and 15 years of competition, so our prices should be much lower than Europe where they have only had a few years of private companies running things, some are still state owned and only a few years of competition. We've also had years of our own oil and gas, which most of Europe doesn't have the benefit of.

It begs the questions
Why bother having private companies rather than nationalised industry in Energy.if there is no benefit for the consumer
Why bother having competition if there is no benefit for the consumer.

Cardew

wakeupalarm wrote: »

Why bother having competition if there is no benefit for the consumer.

IMO there is little scope for competition.

Our Utility distribution companies buy the same product(gas/electricity) on the same world market.

The product is delivered by the same means(pipes and wires)

They all pay the same rates of tax.

They all contribute(pro-rata) the same subsidies for 'green' products.

Ditto social tariffs.

The parliamentary committee this week stated that the profits of the Big 6 distribution companies were between 2% and 5%; which is not unreasonable.

So they simply resort to 'confusion marketing'.

The big unknown factor is the profit levels of the big multi-national companies that produce the gas/electricity.

However it would be naive to expect them to sell their products to the UK at below the market price, when they can get a higher price elsewhere.