British Gas profits plummet as customers switch to discounted deals

British Gas proprietor Centrica has reported a adjacent halving of its yearly earnings, citing a “challenging” twelvemonth influenced by unseasonably lukewarm weather.

The profit deed was besides driven by a important displacement successful customer preferences towards much affordable power deals.

The power elephantine announced underlying operating profits of £814 cardinal for nan 2025 financial year, a important alteration from £1.55 cardinal recorded successful 2024.

Earnings wrong its family power proviso business plummeted by 39 per cent to £163 million, chiefly owed to an £80 cardinal effect attributed to milder temperatures, which lessened request for cardinal heating.

“Additionally, customers moving to fixed value products, typically astatine a discount to nan modular adaptable tariff, reduced profitability compared to 2024,” Centrica said.

The group now reports that astir a 3rd – 32 per cent – of its customers are connected fixed value tariffs, an summation from 25 per cent astatine nan adjacent of nan erstwhile year.

Shares successful nan patient fell 8 per cent arsenic it revealed it was pausing stock buybacks to prioritise its finance programme.

Chief executive Chris O’Shea said while nan trading conditions had been difficult, nan supplier had grown customers crossed its unit limb for nan first clip successful much than a decade.

It saw UK and Ireland family customer numbers summation by 1 per cent to 7.96 cardinal complete nan year, pinch 7.5 cardinal successful nan UK, though this was boosted by 91,000 aft taking connected nan customer guidelines of grounded suppliers Rebel Energy and Tomato Energy successful 2025.

The gains from nan 2 collapsed suppliers “offset a mini alteration successful underlying customers”, it said.

British Gas was past twelvemonth overtaken by rival Octopus Energy as nan UK’s largest family power supplier.

Mr O’Shea said: “The situation has been challenging, and capacity has varied crossed nan business.

“However, we person remained disciplined, delivering beardown operational capacity and achieving customer maturation crossed each our unit businesses simultaneously for nan first clip successful complete a decade.”

He added: “Pausing nan buyback enables america to prioritise finance that creates lasting worth for shareholders, while continuing to present nan reliable, affordable power that households and businesses request to powerfulness economical maturation done nan transition.”

The group said it plans to put astatine slightest different £700 cardinal successful 2026 aft spending successful 2025 included a £1.3 cardinal finance for a 15 per cent liking successful nan caller Sizewell C atomic powerfulness works successful Suffolk.

The results travel arsenic Cornwall Insight this week forecast a 7 per cent simplification successful Ofgem’s power value headdress erstwhile nan adjacent quarterly alteration is announced adjacent Wednesday, pinch a predicted simplification of £117 to £1,641 a twelvemonth for a emblematic dual substance family from 1 April.

This comes aft Chancellor Rachel Reeves said past November that £150 would beryllium trim from nan mean family measure from April by scrapping nan Energy Company Obligation strategy introduced by nan Tories successful government.

Centrica’s figures besides showed its Rough state retention tract – a installation nether nan North Sea disconnected nan eastbound seashore of England – suffered little than feared losses successful 2025 and is expected to astir break-even successful 2026, contempt nan group antecedently informing it would request urgent Government thief to stay open.

A caller consultation connected nan early of state retention successful nan UK closed earlier this week and nan Government is expected to make a determination successful nan first half of nan year.

Aarin Chiekrie, equity expert astatine Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “British Gas proprietor Centrica’s header numbers were a reliable publication arsenic power markets adjusted to much normalised conditions.”

On its finance programme, he said: “Results aren’t going to travel inexpensive aliases quickly, though, pinch betwixt £600-800 cardinal per twelvemonth group to beryllium invested successful nan modulation retired to 2028, which could put a strain connected rate flows if returns aren’t arsenic precocious aliases speedy arsenic planned.”