THE owner of Scottish Gas has faced a storm of criticism as it revealed a £606 million profit haul at its residential arm just months after hiking customer tariffs.
Centrica said an 11% rise in profits at British Gas residential came after last year's colder-than-normal weather resulted in the usage of gas leaping by 12%.
However, critics accused the energy giant of making huge profits on the back of spiralling bills for hard-pressed consumers, with the announcement coming just months after it raised its tariffs by 6% for around 8.4 million households at the end of last year.
Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP Tom Greatrex, Labour's Shadow Energy Minister, said: "People will not understand why just a few months ago Scottish Gas claimed they had no option but to put up their prices when now it looks like they're making huge profits on the back of spiralling bills for hard-pressed consumers.
"It is unacceptable David Cameron is letting the energy companies get away with inflation-busting price rises when they are already making huge profits and when people can least afford it."
Centrica said it paid more than £1 billion in tax last year and invested £2.7bn.
Chris Jansen, managing director of services and commercial at Centrica, said: "I completely understand our profits announced today will create a reaction with customers.
"I think it's important to remember that in 2011 it was a very, very mild winter ... so the country used a lot less gas, and actually our profits in 2011 were 20% down on 2010."
Centrica said it was too early to say if customers should be braced for further price hikes this year, but added there were upward pressures in the market after a 13% jump in wholesale gas prices for winter 2012/13.
Chief executive Sam Laidlaw insisted the group needed to make a "fair and reasonable return so we can continue to make our contribution to society and to invest".
Age Scotland called for a nationwide programme of home insulation to help thousands of pensioners living in fuel poverty.
A spokesman for the charity said: "Over half of single pensioner households in Scotland are in fuel poverty. So these profit figures are unlikely to be well-received by older customers who faced a stark choice this winter between heating and eating.
"In the long term, the way to tackle fuel poverty is through a nationwide programme to retrofit insulation in homes – a move that would save the average family £310 a year on energy bills."
Trisha McAuley, senior director at Consumer Focus Scotland, added: "We should not be surprised if consumers regard these results, and the warning of price rises to come, with a mix of resentment and dread.
"From the outside, our big energy companies seem nigh-on recession proof. They are able to pass on the risks that come with volatile commodity costs in ways that other, more competitive, markets just could not.
"The truth is we do need profitable energy companies who are able to invest in our ageing energy infrastructure.
"We do need to ensure the lights stay on and we plan our way out of dependence on imported fossil fuels."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article