Centrica : Energy crisis delays British gas meeting

Published: 2021-10-14 01:21:11 ET CNA.L

BRITISH gas owner Centrica has postponed a shareholder meeting scheduled next month due to an "unprecedented commodity price environment."

A company spokesperson said Centrica would not have time to hold the meeting.

Chief executive Chris O'Shea said, "in this current unprecedented commodity price environment we remain focused on looking after our residential and business customers, whilst working as part of wider industry efforts in the UK to support the customers of failed suppliers and drive the regulatory reforms which are urgently required to make sure this situation never recurs."

"Unfortunately, that has meant taking the decision to postpone our planned Capital Markets Event in November," O'Shea added.

It comes as four more UK energy suppliers face collapse amid record worldwide energy prices with talks between the providers and Ofgem ongoing, according to Sky News.

Since September, 1.7m customers have already been forced to move to new suppliers by the collapse of energy companies including Enstroga, Igloo Energy, Symbio Energy, MonEYPLUs Energy, PfP Energy, Utility Point, People's Energy, Green Supplier and Avro Energy.

British Gas agreed to take on an extra 350,000 domestic customers from People's Energy three weeks ago after its collapse, Ofgem confirmed. It joined other market giants such as Octopus and Shell in taking on "orphaned" customers.

The cost of onboarding such consumers is estimated to be £700 per new client.

While Centrica is predicting an increased workload in the months ahead the company is reportedly "well hedged" for the coming Winter months and beyond, with performance remaining in line with expectations despite a challenging market.

According to the company, "Centrica's balance sheet remains strong and the Group's transformation remains on track."

Shares in Centrica dipped after the postponing of the meeting was announced. Shares were down 4.5 per cent at the close yesterday.