Centrica set to announce near-50 per cent rise in yearly profits

BRITISH Gas parent Centrica will today unveil a near 50 per cent rise in annual profits. The bumper £554 million haul – 46 per cent ahead of 2008 – comes weeks after hefty winter fuel bills dropped on to millions of doormats.

Industry watchdog Ofgem said this week that energy firms have boosted margins by 30 for each typical dual fuel customer in the past three months as wholesale energy costs fall.

Gary Smith, national officer at the GMB union, said: "Buying cheap and selling dear will always add up to high profits in a natural monopoly.

"It is long overdue that the government should step in and take control of the energy sector and put in place proper plans for secure supplies at reasonable prices as happens in the rest of Europe."

Centrica is also expected to lift its dividend to investors, bringing payouts for the year to around 650 million. The dividends offer returns to major institutional holders such as pension funds.

British Gas – the UK's biggest energy supplier with around 16 million customers – became the first of the "big six" to cut gas prices recently. It trades as Scottish Gas north of the Border.

Centrica will also argue profits have recovered from an abnormally low level in 2008 when the group waited until late in the year before passing on soaring wholesale gas prices.

The 2009 figures for the overall group will also show operating profits down 7 per cent to 1.82 billion in 2009 due to dwindling returns from its production business.

This is because lower wholesale gas prices have a bigger downward effect on production profits than the boost given by the residential business.