British Gas to cut 6,000 jobs
30/07/2015
Centrica, who own British Gas, have announced that they will be cutting 6,000 jobs, despite doubling profits in the first six months of this year.
Half the jobs lost will be through redundancies, and other jobs will be created in other parts of the company, leaving about 4,000 unemployed overall. This is despite profits from British Gas rising to £528 million, compared to £265m a year earlier.
Centrica appointed a new chief executive, Iain Conn, at the start of this year. He conducted a strategic review of the business and concluded that the company should reduce its activities in actual energy production.
Mr Conn has denied the company is making excessive profits at British Gas, and claimed the rise was due to higher gas consumption due to colder weather. He told the BBC British Gas had already cut prices by 5% this year and would be cutting them by a further 5% later in the year.
According to the company, that will mean average savings of £72 a year.
British Gas supplies gas for nine million households in the UK, and has more domestic customers that any other of the UK’s “Big Six” energy providers.
Ian Conn said:
“Serving our customers is what we are known for, what we are good at and where we already have distinctive positions and capabilities.”
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