Monday 14 May 2018

Cold weather boosted Centrica performance despite slipping customers

Cold weather over the winter period boosted Centrica's financial performance, despite the volume of its customer accounts continuing to slip.

The energy giant said overall financial performance has been good in 2018 so far, supported by increased energy demand.

It added although there are high levels of competition in its core markets, net consumer customer account losses in the year to date have slowed relative to 2017.

Consumer account holdings fell by 62,000 in the first four months of the year. Energy supply accounts fell by 110,000 in the UK, largely reflecting market switching trends.

It said it expected to reduce jobs by around 1,000 through 2018.

Centrica's latest figures show growth in both its Connected Home and Distributed Energy and Power businesses is continuing and it expects to reach the milestone of one million cumulative customers in Connected Home this week.

The company says it is on track to achieving its 2018 targets of achieving an adjusted operating cash flow between £2.1 billion and £2.3 billion and delivering energy efficiency savings of £200 million.

Iain Conn, Centrica Group Chief Executive, said: "2018 has begun well and overall financial performance in the year to date has been good, despite high competitive intensity in all our markets.

"Our focus remains on performance delivery and financial discipline and we remain on track to achieve our 2018 group targets."