British Gas has reported that it made a profit of £969m in the first half of 2023, with earnings rocketing by 889% when compared to the corresponding £98m figure in 2022.

This comes as the energy provider’s owner, Centrica, reported a £6.5bn profit in H1 2023, despite millions of UK households struggling to pay energy bills amid the cost of living crisis.

Over half of the British Gas profits were due to the UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem, allowing the group to recover costs incurred when it was not able to pass on the full surge in wholesale prices during the energy crisis.

The jump in Centrica’s earnings also come as some energy companies are seeing a run of huge profits come to an end, after prices surged last year when Russia invaded Ukraine. Shell today reported net profits of just over $5bn (£3.9bn) for the three months to the end of June, a figure representing a drop of more than 50% on the $11.5bn (£9.0bn) it achieved in Q2 last year.

Oil and gas prices escalated last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine although energy prices have broadly experienced a sharp drop this year as fears of shortages have eased amid global economic challenges.

Centrica reported underlying operating profits of £2.1bn for H1, up from £1.3bn last year, and has also proposed a 33% hike in dividends and a £450m extension of share buybacks.

Group chief executive at Centrica, Chris O’Shea, defended the group’s profits and said: “Nothing is more important than delivering for our customers – its why we are here.

“Today’s results allow us to increase our customer support package to more than £100m, and the new green investment strategy we’ve announced will see us invest several billion pounds in the energy transition, creating thousands of new well-paid jobs. Our robust balance sheet has allowed us to invest heavily in the UK and Ireland’s energy security and will make sure that our customers have cleaner energy at the right price.”

O’Shea also said that Centrica is now a “more focused and higher quality business”, and suggested that the group’s portfolio of businesses has enabled it to deliver strong financial performance, which includes “significant one-off recovery of past costs” through the UK price cap mechanism.

“I’m proud of the incredible work our colleagues do every day to help customers struggling with the cost of living crisis,” he added. “We are doing more than any other UK energy company – and we will continue to be there when our customers need us.”

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