British Gas parent company Centrica is expected to post half-year profits of about £880 million as millions of its customers reel from a record hike in gas bills.The UK's biggest domestic energy supplier, which has 15.9 million customers, has been forced to pass on soaring wholesale gas prices after first raising bills in January.
On Wednesday, the group upped gas bills by a mammoth 35%, with electricity prices up 9%. This takes annual dual fuel payments to £1,317 - £404 above the beginning of the year.
In the first half of last year, British Gas racked up £533 million in profits after delays in passing on lower gas prices, although this bumper haul has fallen by 69% to £166 million amid record wholesale prices.
Across the group as a whole, operating profits are expected to fall to about £880 million compared with last year's £1.24 billion.
The lower profits from British Gas will be partially offset by a better return from the group's upstream production business - which gained from the higher prices - but is also likely to face a bigger tax bill as a result.
French-owned EDF Energy became the first major energy company to lift prices last Friday - 17% for electricity and 22% for gas - blaming record oil prices for the move.
And other rivals among the UK's "big six" are sure to follow EDF and Centrica after Scottish & Southern Energy last week said it was becoming "more difficult by the day" to resist hitting customers with higher bills. continues here
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