Centrica appoints new British Gas boss:
Centrica finance director Phil Bentley was today handed the task of controlling costs at British Gas as it struggles to bring soaring household energy bills under control. Mr Bentley, 47, will take over as managing director of Centrica's British Gas residential energy business in February next year following the departure of Mark Clare this month. It puts Mr Bentley in charge of gas and electricity bills for more than 16 million UK households already reeling from huge price hikes. Mr Clare – who announced he was to stand down in June – oversaw a string of inflation-busting hikes in energy bills in his four-year spell in charge, including a 22% rise in prices in March and as much as 12.4% earlier this month. All the other major suppliers imposed similar hikes but Mr Clare came under fire from consumer groups after a second round of rises – having said at the time of the first that there was no need for any further increases this year so long as wholesale energy prices remained steady. Price comparison and switching service uSwitch.com said his words had been “rendered meaningless” by the second hike but Mr Clare insisted that a 30% rise since March in the cost of the wholesale gas Centrica bought for its British Gas customers left it no choice. It came at a time of record losses for British Gas, with the firm slipping £143m (€212.5m) into the red in the first half of the year because of the soaring cost of wholesale gas. Centrica chief executive Mark Laidlaw today said the transfer of Mr Bentley from group finance director to head of British Gas emphasised the importance of the residential business and the need to reduce costs. 21.9.06