Subscribe to this blog's feedPoor old British Gas received yet another - and entirely predictable - kicking in the mass media today after making profits of, gasp, £571 million last year, while four million fuel poor struugle to pay their energy bills.
Why can't the BBC and the newspapers grasp the concept that Britain's energy retailers are now private companies with responsibilities to shareholders and employees as well as customers? Why do energy companies meet with such disapproval for making profits? It's not like Centrica is churning out the sort of monopoly money made by other comapnies - BP's £8.7 billion, Tesco's £2.5 billion or Barclays' £7.1 billion spring to mind.
How often must the industry and its regulator repeat the message that energy supply is now a competitive, privatised, deregulated market before the media get it? In the absence of any evidence of price fixing, consumers can do exactly the same as they can if they think Tesco, BP or Barclays are too expensive - switch to another supplier.
Centrica ought to be congratulated on making a few quid in a difficult market rather than lambasted for exploiting its customers.
