Numbers are in from cold at British Gas

Source: Daily Mail, LondonAug.迷你倉庫 01--THE freezing winter helped revenues at British Gas rise 10pc to pounds sterling 7.9bn as heating demand soared.Gas use rose 13pc in the first six months of the year, after the worst winter in 50 years, the company said.But higher green levies and other costs meant British Gas's profits only rose 1pc to pounds sterling 569m.The amount it paid in 'environmental costs' rose dramatically from pounds sterling 385m to pounds sterling 529m during the period.British Gas said the cost of complying with a government scheme to install insulation in poorer areas also added pounds sterling 100m onto its costs.Chief executive Sam Laidlaw said he couldn't rule out a rise 儲存n prices again because of the volatile wholesale price of energy.He said: 'With our customers using more gas to stay warm during the unusually cold winter, we're doing everything we can to help them keep their energy costs under control and make bills simpler and clearer.'Parent company Centrica, which also has a supply business in the US and upstream operations across the world, registered an 11pc fall in pre-tax profits to pounds sterling 1.5bn.But the group increased its dividend by 6pc to 4.92p a share.Shares rose 5.2p to 391p.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 Daily Mail (London, ) Visit the Daily Mail (London, ) at .dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html Distributed by MCT Information Services新蒲崗迷你倉