Confidemus Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28579589 "British Gas has reported a sharp drop in profits for the first half of the year due to warmer weather. Residential supply fell by a quarter to £265m, owner Centrica said. Operating profit at the parent company was down 35% at £1.03bn. Centrica said the average annual British Gas customer bill would be £90 lower this year than in 2013. Earlier, regulator Ofgem said the big six energy firms were set to double profit margins over the next year. The industry accused Ofgem of using inaccurate figures. The predicted fall in bills this year is due to warmer weather and energy efficiencies, Centrica said, rather than to any fall in residential energy prices. It added that post-tax profit margins would be about 4%, lower than last year and below the 4.5%-5% the company says it needs to achieve in order to make necessary investments in the business. Centrica said the number of British Gas residential customer accounts fell by about 1% in the first three months of the year before stabilising in the second quarter. "The first half of the year has seen challenging market conditions across the Group, both as a result of the weather and reflecting the wider political environment," said Centrica chairman Rich Haythornthwaite." I for one feel sorry for British Gas. That nasty warm weather affecting their profits. Leave your messages of sympathy below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Is this one of the positives of Climate Change? I'm with EDF. They are scum, sub-human scum, but they're better than British/Scottish Gas. Anyone who still has either British/Scottish Gas or Scottish Power as their energy supplier is a lazy, feckless c**t. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForzaDundee Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 #PrayForBritishGas I'm currently getting sent bills from both Scottish Hydro and EDF for the same periods but can't be bothered sorting it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bairn Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'm with Scottish power. Have been since we moved in to our flat. Are we wasting money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'm with Scottish power. Have been since we moved in to our flat. Are we wasting money? Yes. Yes, you are.; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 My heart fucking bleeds, as do my radiators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suspect Device Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 That profit margin doesn't look too great. Nothing compared to the b*****d banks or even supermarkets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Hottest August in 300 years coming Sell all your shares - they're doomed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Hottest August in 300 years coming Sell all your shares - they're doomed. Thank God (and baby Jesus) for Climate Change: making Scotland warmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 That said, the same Express told us this about the winter which just passed... 100 Days of Heavy Snow - Britain facing worst winter in SIXTY years warn forecasters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Remember folks- save gas, fart in a jar..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 That said, the same Express told us this about the winter which just passed... 100 Days of Heavy Snow - Britain facing worst winter in SIXTY years warn forecasters Forecasters really are shite at their job. In days gone by they'd have been executed for their poor forecasts, and rightly so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Forecasters really are shite at their job. In days gone by they'd have been executed for their poor forecasts, and rightly so. Having now done a bit of subsurface modelling which is a similar idea (i.e. creating maps of things you can't currently see using spacial data points), I have a lot more sympathy for weather forecasters now. Models based on algorithms and evil variograms will always be wrong, it's just a matter of how badly. A lot of them are stochastic models where if you pushed the 'generate' button again then you'd get a completely different prediction. From my point of view, people's problems generally lie with predictions which look like incredibly accurate maps, even to the point where they seem to be saying that "in two days time, Fife will be dry other than a patch of rain over Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly from 12:00 - 14:00". As a result, people just assume more detail = more correct / accurate. Getting long term predictions might be a different story though. To be fair however, the Met Office came out 'blasting' the Express over that snow story when it was published. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jock001 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Has anyone published any figures on how much gas each company buys from fascist Russia? I'd like to boycott Russian goods over their actions in the Ukraine but unfortunately they don't appear to actually make anything. Even the number one vodka manufacturer is British. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Having now done a bit of subsurface modelling which is a similar idea (i.e. creating maps of things you can't currently see using spacial data points), I have a lot more sympathy for weather forecasters now. Models based on algorithms and evil variograms will always be wrong, it's just a matter of how badly. A lot of them are stochastic models where if you pushed the 'generate' button again then you'd get a completely different prediction. From my point of view, people's problems generally lie with predictions which look like incredibly accurate maps, even to the point where they seem to be saying that "in two days time, Fife will be dry other than a patch of rain over Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly from 12:00 - 14:00". As a result, people just assume more detail = more correct / accurate. Getting long term predictions might be a different story though. To be fair however, the Met Office came out 'blasting' the Express over that snow story when it was published. The Met Office can go and lick my sweaty baws. Told me it would be pishing with rain for my week in Fort Augustus and it's been fucking glorious. Long may they be fucking useless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 The Met Office can go and lick my sweaty baws. Told me it would be pishing with rain for my week in Fort Augustus and it's been fucking glorious. Long may they be fucking useless! Similarly, I got a nasty bit of sunburn on the first day of the Scottish Open where it was meant to be raining all day. Factor 50 wasn't exactly top of the list of stuff to bring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Actually it's clouded over now and looks like it could pish down. They can maybe have a reprieve from licking my baws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Actually it's clouded over now and looks like it could pish down. They can maybe have a reprieve from licking my baws. That's not weather, that's karma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supras Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 This is an idiotic story, of course the profits of Gas firms go down in summer. It's frightening how easy people have been hooked into hatred of Gas distribution companies and it is to absolutely no ones benefit. The Return on Capital Employed by the Gas distribution industry their profit as percentage of revenue are both very low compared to others in the sector, and well below upstream activities, for example. That plus a media witch hunt means that any top executives in the spotlight will quickly shuffle off elsewhere to places where they aren't publically reviled for making a profit in, er, a public limited company. The CEO of British Gas recently announced his departure only 15 months after taking the job, and the head of Centrica will be off soon too. Continued volatility with changing leadership is a bad thing. Lack of investment in an unprofitable industry is a bad thing. The only way for people to get over this is accept that just because you don't necessarily see Gas and Electricity doesn't mean you can or should get them for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Surely all this means is that the 'Big 6' scum will just fix the prices to be higher again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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