26 June 2007
'Strong' trading figures from the UK's largest energy supplier Centrica, may well signal the end of high wholesale gas prices, but more must be done to reflect these reductions in customers' bills, uSwitch has said.
Responding to the latest trading figures from the parent company of British Gas, the independent comparison and switching service said the improvement was good news.
"Today's announcement is another positive sign that the turmoil of high wholesale prices and low supplier margins is well and truly in the past," Tim Wolfenden, Senior Product Manager at uSwitch.com, said.
However he remained concerned that despite the increase in profits, consumers were not seeing the reduction of wholesale prices reflected in their household bills.
He urged suppliers to be more vocal in the true costs of gas and take steps to ensure consumers' energy bills are altered accordingly.
"Both British Gas and its competitors need to front up to customers and be honest about what they anticipate delivering in terms of further price cuts. Consumers are being left to guess 'higher' or 'lower' while the suppliers keep pragmatically quiet," he asserted.
The news follows Centrica's two price cuts since the beginning of this year in an effort to win back customers from rival suppliers.
The supplier cited low gas prices for gas in the UK as a reason for the improvement.
In May it announced residential customer figures of nearly 16 million.