26th Apr 2007 07:00
Statement by Centrica plc 26 April 2007 BRITISH GAS ANNOUNCES A SECOND PRICE CUT OF £40 EFFECTIVE TODAY - TOTALREDUCTION OF £207 THIS YEAR British Gas today announced a further cut to its standard electricity and gasrates for domestic customers with immediate effect. Its electricity rates fallby a further 6 per cent and gas rates fall by 3 per cent.(1) Together with the decrease announced earlier in the year this second round ofprice cuts for British Gas customers reduces the average annual dual fuel billby £207. This takes average prices down to £913 from £1,120(2) in just over sixweeks. British Gas' standard dual fuel tariff is now cheaper than the localsupplier in every area of the country(3) and Click Energy remains the cheapestenergy tariff on the market.(4) This move follows the 12 March price cut which saw the company reduce standardgas prices by 17 per cent and electricity by 11 per cent.(5) Since British Gas announced the March price cut in February, over 678,000 newcustomers have signed up, and it has seen overall net growth of its customerbase since the start of April 2007. British Gas' new Managing Director Phil Bentley said: "We want British Gas tooffer the best value around. We've taken the lead on lower prices and we arecommitted to restoring our customer service to an industry-leading level. That'swhy we've added an extra 800 people to our call centres, scrapped plans for the£5 late payment charge, and why we are reducing our prices again - and doing itimmediately. Our two price cuts within the space of seven weeks will mean annualsavings of £207 for our customers - while some of our competitors have failed tocut prices even once. Since we announced our first price cut more than 678,000customers have signed up to British Gas and we're now growing our customer base. "As well as being cheaper than our competitors, we are also greener: British Gasis the biggest supplier of green power to UK homes and our electricity has thelowest CO2 emissions of any major UK energy supplier." Last month, British Gas also launched the UK's largest social tariff, theEssentials Tariff, at a cost of up to £40 million per year. Essentials willlower gas and electricity bills for up to 750,000 vulnerable customers -equivalent to the cheapest British Gas standard tariff. Following today'sannouncement prepayment meter customers who qualify for Essentials will haveseen their energy bills drop by 28 per cent since 11 March which will mean anannual saving of £322.(6) As a further measure for customers seeking reassurance over volatile energyprices in the future, British Gas has updated its Price Guarantee 2008 product.At no extra premium and with no early exit penalty, customers who take thisproduct are guaranteed British Gas' new cheaper prices until 31 May 2008. Thecompany is writing to all its existing Price Guarantee 2008 customers to confirmthat today's electricity and gas price cut will automatically apply to them.(7) After this price cut British Gas will still deliver a sustainable margin in 2007which enables it to make necessary future investments. \* TDual Fuel prices at 26.04.07------------------------------------------------------------------------ Local Local British Gas British Gas Supplier Region Supplier's bill Saving (£) bill------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scottish Scottish Power £943 £847 £96 Power ------------------------------------------------------------ Manweb £934 £839 £95------------------------------------------------------------------------ London £943 £816 £127 ------------------------------------------------------------ EDF Energy Seeboard £934 £809 £125 ------------------------------------------------------------ SWEB £969 £840 £129------------------------------------------------------------------------ Midlands £981 £845 £136 ------------------------------------------------------------ npower(8) Northern £994 £857 £137 ------------------------------------------------------------ Yorkshire £984 £850 £134------------------------------------------------------------------------ East Midlands £941 £832 £109 ------------------------------------------------------------Powergen(9) Eastern £941 £831 £110 ------------------------------------------------------------ Norweb £951 £846 £105------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scottish Hydro £829 £827 £2Scottish and------------------------------------------------------------ Southern Southern £840 £824 £16 ------------------------------------------------------------ Swalec £859 £853 £6------------------------------------------------------------------------Bills are based on industry average annual consumption of 20,500 kWh for gas and 3,300 kWh for single-rate metered electricity paying by monthly direct debit------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------Online Dual Fuel prices at 26.04.07------------------------------------------------------------------------British Gas Click Energy 2 £755------------------------------------------------------------------------Powergen £779------------------------------------------------------------------------Scottish Power £773------------------------------------------------------------------------npower £785------------------------------------------------------------------------Scottish and Southern £787------------------------------------------------------------------------EDF £857------------------------------------------------------------------------\* T Ends Centrica Investor Relations: 01753 494900 Media Relations Contacts:Alan McLaughlin: 01753 494105/07789 570598Mish Tullar: 01753 494104/07789 570808Anne Morton: 01753 494106/07979 566274 Notes to Editors. All price comparisons are based on industry standard average annual gasconsumption of 20,500 kWh and electricity consumption of 3,300 kWh on a singlerate meter, are rounded and include VAT at 5%. Excludes any prompt paymentdiscount that may be available from other suppliers. Electricity pricereductions averaged across all electricity regions - actual decrease will varyby region and meter type. £ saving quoted in the headline is based on payment quarterly by cash or cheque. 1. For ALL standard tariffs - monthly direct debit, quarterly by cash/cheque orprepayment giving a further reduction of £40 for the average dual fuel customerpaying by quarterly cash/cheque. 2. Based on payment quarterly by cash or cheque. 3. Compares our standard Monthly Direct Debit prices to those of Powergen,Scottish Power, npower, Scottish & Southern and EDF, in their former host supplyregions as at 26 April. 4. Based on a dual fuel comparison of major suppliers on UK Power as at 25 Aprilin each region. 5. Based on quarterly cash/cheque and monthly direct debit prices. 6. Compares prepayment tariffs as at 11th March 2007 to monthly direct debittariff as of 26th April 2007. 7. Due to the close proximity of the April 26th price reduction announcement towhen Price Guarantee 2008 was launched, customers who have already signed up toit will also see the reduction in their energy rates. They are also guaranteedtheir credit payment as a result of this latest price reduction announcement,after 31st May 08, provided they are still on this product at that time. Withthe exception of Price Protection 2010, customers on our other price protecteddeals will not be subject to cancellation fees should they decide to move offtheir price protective tariff. Price Protection 2010 prices are lower than our26th April 2007 standard rates. 8. Reflects npower's current prices. Even after npower's price reduction on 30thApril British Gas will remain cheaper than npower for dual fuel in their homeareas on average by £17 (dual fuel monthly direct debit). 9. Reflects Powergen's current prices. Even after Powergen's price reduction on30th April British Gas will remain cheaper than Powergen for dual fuel acrosstheir home area on average by £23 (dual fuel monthly direct debit). Copyright Business Wire 2007Related Shares:
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