British Gas owner Centrica profits hit £3.3bn for 2022.

[Chippy_Tea]

The boss of British Gas owner Centrica has refused to be drawn on whether he will take a bonus worth up to £1.6m after the company posted huge profits.
Chris O'Shea said it was "too early to have a conversation" over any payout after profits hit £3.3bn for 2022.
Energy firms have seen record profits since oil and gas prices jumped following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It has sparked calls for firms to pay more tax as many households being hit by high gas and electricity bills.
Centrica's bumper figures also come after British Gas was criticised over its use of debt agents to force-fit prepayment meters in the homes of vulnerable customers.
The firm's full-year profits were more than triple the £948m generated in 2021. Shell and BP have also reported record profits this year.
Mr O'Shea is due to receive an annual salary of £794,375 and Centrica's annual incentive plan means he could also be eligible for a bonus of almost £1.6m if targets are met.
"It's a bit early for us to say - the annual report will be published in March and it will have everything that you need," he said.
Mr O'Shea has previously turned down a £1.1m bonus in 2021 due to "hardships" faced by customers. Centrica's annual report for that year also said he did not take a bonus in 2020 and 2019 because of the pandemic.
However, the report added: "It is important to recognise that this is not sustainable and the committee is clear that if performance justifies a bonus in the coming year it is our intention to pay that bonus."

Labour's Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves called on the government to "bring in a proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants to stop energy prices rising in April".
The government's windfall tax only applies to profits made from extracting UK oil and gas. The current rate is 35%, but oil and gas firms pay an additional 30% in corporation tax and a supplementary 10% rate, taking the total rate to 75%.
However, companies can reduce the amount of tax paid by factoring in losses or spending on things like decommissioning North Sea oil platforms.
It has meant in recent years, the likes of BP and Shell have paid little or no UK tax.
It comes as the government has been forced to step in to help households. It is currently limiting energy bills to £2,500 per year for a typical home, although that is still more than twice what they were before the Ukraine war, with the threshold set to rise to £3,000 in April.
The results also follow an investigation by the Times newspaper which revealed that debt agents working for British Gas had broken into the homes of vulnerable people to force-fit prepayment meters. It has resulted in many more similar incidents being brought to light.
The revelations resulted in Ofgem, the energy watchdog, asking all suppliers to suspend forced prepayment meter installations. Courts in England and Wales also halted applications from firms to install them.

Centrica said it was "extremely disappointed by the allegations" surrounding one of its contractors, Avarto Financial Solutions, and added it was "completing a thorough independent investigation".
There are more than four million UK households on prepayment meters, which require customers to pay for energy in advance, either through accounts or by adding credit to a card. It is more expensive than paying by direct debit.
However, strict rules are meant to stop suppliers moving at-risk customers onto prepayment meters, amid concerns people may "self disconnect" when they cannot afford to top up.

One British Gas customer Ricky, who lives in Kingston upon Thames, had a prepayment meter force-fitted at his home in November last year.
The 46-year-old suffers from long Covid and is unable to work regularly. He told the BBC he was placed on British Gas's vulnerable register after they sent him an £800 bill.
But one morning he was woken up by people banging on his front door and shouting. He got to the door and saw a locksmith kneeling down about to break in.
"I was just completely bewildered," he said. Ricky said a woman from Arvato Financial Solutions handed him a letter which said he had to have a smart prepayment meter fitted.
Ricky said the whole experience was "distressing and degrading" and added he "felt ashamed".
British Gas said it was "really sorry" to hear about Ricky's experience and would contact him to "look at how we resolve things".
Avarto Financial Solutions has refused to comment on the allegations so far.

Full article - Too early to discuss bonus, says British Gas boss

 

[LeeH]

They must be flogging sacks of malt on the QT.

 

[Yellow Car]

Yep - like a brewer selling beer at the 'bar company' bar for £8 a pint, and explaining there's only a 20p profit margin on that.
While making the same beer for £2 a pint in their 'brewing company' and selling it to the 'bar company' for £7.80.

Lo and behold, yes the bar does only make 20p a pint, but that's not the whole story.

 

[Leon103]

Fair play on him if he refuses it again. He deserves it.

 

[CaptAwol]

I don't really get involved or comment on these issues, but here goes and then I'll drop back down below the parapet and hide in a corner drinking my homebrew.

Whilst all these energy companies are ripping us off and making huge profits, they are actually doing as required by UK law.
I can't remember the actual requirements, but basically companies are required by UK law to make the maximum profits for its share holder's.
I was never a fan of privatisation and now we know why

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

I think also, and I might be wrong, but there is a set price globally for what the cost of a “unit” is. Currently this cost is about 4 times what it was just over a year ago. So, regardless of what it costs these companies to produce their product, they legally are selling it for quadruple what they were. Who wouldn’t?

 

[user 43495]

It is somewhat disingenuous to lay the blame on Putin. He's only done what he was always going to do a

The boss of British Gas owner Centrica has refused to be drawn on whether he will take a bonus worth up to £1.6m after the company posted huge profits.
Chris O'Shea said it was "too early to have a conversation" over any payout after profits hit £3.3bn for 2022.
Energy firms have seen record profits since oil and gas prices jumped following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It has sparked calls for firms to pay more tax as many households being hit by high gas and electricity bills.
Centrica's bumper figures also come after British Gas was criticised over its use of debt agents to force-fit prepayment meters in the homes of vulnerable customers.
The firm's full-year profits were more than triple the £948m generated in 2021. Shell and BP have also reported record profits this year.
Mr O'Shea is due to receive an annual salary of £794,375 and Centrica's annual incentive plan means he could also be eligible for a bonus of almost £1.6m if targets are met.
"It's a bit early for us to say - the annual report will be published in March and it will have everything that you need," he said.
Mr O'Shea has previously turned down a £1.1m bonus in 2021 due to "hardships" faced by customers. Centrica's annual report for that year also said he did not take a bonus in 2020 and 2019 because of the pandemic.
However, the report added: "It is important to recognise that this is not sustainable and the committee is clear that if performance justifies a bonus in the coming year it is our intention to pay that bonus."


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Labour's Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves called on the government to "bring in a proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants to stop energy prices rising in April".
The government's windfall tax only applies to profits made from extracting UK oil and gas. The current rate is 35%, but oil and gas firms pay an additional 30% in corporation tax and a supplementary 10% rate, taking the total rate to 75%.
However, companies can reduce the amount of tax paid by factoring in losses or spending on things like decommissioning North Sea oil platforms.
It has meant in recent years, the likes of BP and Shell have paid little or no UK tax.
It comes as the government has been forced to step in to help households. It is currently limiting energy bills to £2,500 per year for a typical home, although that is still more than twice what they were before the Ukraine war, with the threshold set to rise to £3,000 in April.
The results also follow an investigation by the Times newspaper which revealed that debt agents working for British Gas had broken into the homes of vulnerable people to force-fit prepayment meters. It has resulted in many more similar incidents being brought to light.
The revelations resulted in Ofgem, the energy watchdog, asking all suppliers to suspend forced prepayment meter installations. Courts in England and Wales also halted applications from firms to install them.

Centrica said it was "extremely disappointed by the allegations" surrounding one of its contractors, Avarto Financial Solutions, and added it was "completing a thorough independent investigation".
There are more than four million UK households on prepayment meters, which require customers to pay for energy in advance, either through accounts or by adding credit to a card. It is more expensive than paying by direct debit.
However, strict rules are meant to stop suppliers moving at-risk customers onto prepayment meters, amid concerns people may "self disconnect" when they cannot afford to top up.

One British Gas customer Ricky, who lives in Kingston upon Thames, had a prepayment meter force-fitted at his home in November last year.
The 46-year-old suffers from long Covid and is unable to work regularly. He told the BBC he was placed on British Gas's vulnerable register after they sent him an £800 bill.
But one morning he was woken up by people banging on his front door and shouting. He got to the door and saw a locksmith kneeling down about to break in.
"I was just completely bewildered," he said. Ricky said a woman from Arvato Financial Solutions handed him a letter which said he had to have a smart prepayment meter fitted.
Ricky said the whole experience was "distressing and degrading" and added he "felt ashamed".
British Gas said it was "really sorry" to hear about Ricky's experience and would contact him to "look at how we resolve things".
Avarto Financial Solutions has refused to comment on the allegations so far.

Full article - Too early to discuss bonus, says British Gas boss

It's disingenuous to lay the blame on Putin; he's only done what he was always going to do and it's the short-sightedness and addiction to this utterly disproportionate and impoverishing drive to sign off net zero which has far more to do with the UK becoming less energy self-sufficient and therefore world shortages clobber us big-time. Unless and until technology enables so-called renewables to match the performance of now decidedly untrendy sources of energy, relying on the Great British weather for power from windmills puts us firmly in third world territory.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Demonising the gas companies is a red herring...they don't set the wholesale gas price, that is set for them. They have no control over how much they sell gas for - they're just being punished for running super efficient companies with low cost base and overhead's. These huge profits are a result of price setting by Ofgem i.e. the government. I have no idea why the government is setting such a high price cap...it's a very complicated market, but demonising the energy companies is going to do no good - I guess when you get career politicians who have no idea how the world works and ignoring advice from those who do and fiddle with an open market for their own political ends, they just end up screwing it up. Then they are happy for people to jump to the wrong conclusion (or be led to them by those with a political agenda) and blame someone else and get all the credit when they give us back some of the windfall taxes they've collected from the high energy company profits caused by the government price setting. Yes, there is something very wrong here, but it's not the fault of the energy companies. They don't set the prices so cannot be ripping us off.

Anyway nobody was calling for energy companies to be compensated during COVID when they were having to pay to have their oil and gas taken away due to the demand dropping due to global lockdowns (and we are beginning to see the truth of those). You can't have it both ways...punish them with additional taxes when they make money by a energy market rigged by politicians, but not offer them assistance and help when they lose money when politicians shut the world down. That is not very smart at all.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Ofgem is not fit for purpose it is a government body, a bit like VAR it only see's what it wants to see