The number of British Gas new customers has risen by almost 250,000 in the first half of 2010.

News of the rise in British gas new customers came when the company announced operating profits just shy of £600 million for the first six months of 2010. This represented a rise of almost double, some 98%.

British Gas stated that it had benefited from the very cold winter and demand for energy increased dramatically. The Group is a supplier to over half of the UK households and reports that the usage of gas rose by nearly 10%. Furthermore, after cutting prices in February, 2010, it added 223,000 new residential customers, which means that it now has 15.79 million accounts, more than it did in 2008.

The owners of British Gas, Centrica, actually stated that overall there was a fall in energy use, brought about by customers being more energy efficient. But that this was wiped out by the harsh winter.

Centrica’s statement said there was an underlying fall in energy use because customers were being more energy efficient, but this was offset by extra demand thanks to the freezing weather.

Figures from Centrica announced at the same time, showed that it had hiked profits to £1.56 billion, a rise of 65% over the previous period.

Centrica’s boss Sam Laidlaw said:
“This is a much bigger group than we had a year ago – a 40% increase in the size of the group as a result of the acquisitions that we did last year.

“Customers’ bills, despite the very cold winter, were actually lower this year than they were for the corresponding period last year, and that’s because we’ve reduced our prices three times in the last twelve months by some 17%.”

As regards consumer group calls for further price reductions, Mr Laidlaw added:
“This is a competitive market, so we can’t give any signals, but our position has always been to lead the market down and try to delay any price increases as long as we can.”

Although the managing director of British Gas, Phil Bentley, said:
“Probably unit prices per unit will go up. We’re not saying over the next year, but in the long term, it absolutely will.”

Experts say that it was likely the trend for increasing numbers of British Gas new customers will continue throughout 2010, especially given their major marketing campaigns.

Guest Article by Neil Camp