It's a Gas, Gas, Gas!

News that Centrica, the owners of 'British Gas', have announced record annual profits of over £3.3 bn is causing concern. Should, for example, the company's Chief Executive take his massive annual bonus? (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/16/british-gas-owner-centrica-reports-record-profits-of-33bn). Centrica's profits are clearly largely a consequence of the Ukraine war. This event greatly elevated the cost of natural gas. British Gas, however, have also benefited from the failure of many of their smaller competitors, resulting in those customers being allocated to their organisation. British Gas has finally been shamed into stopping their hired operatives forcing their way into poor people's homes, to install expensive pre-payment meters. One should note, however, that the vast majority of Centrica's 'windfall profits', are linked to the generation of hydrocarbons and electricity. Actually supplying energy to people's homes and businesses, generates only modest income. Further, under competition law, British Gas is not allowed to cross-subsidise the charges they make for energy. Had British Gas not been privatised (as part of the creation of Mrs Thatcher's 'share-owning democracy'), much more of the company's profits could have been directed to protecting folk from the cost of energy crisis and paying the British Gas workforce. At the moment, the profits are largely being used to reward shareholders and the company's Chief Executives.