We’ve all seen that Centrica made a fortune over the last six months, who knows where that proffit really came from although the shareholder report gives a good idea and indicates some substantial foreign earnings BUT, British Gas part of Centrica and it’s UK subsidiary that supplies many of us also made just short of £1bn in the same 6 months compared to £98m the previous year, at the same time gas and electricity prices rose 36% & 17% respectively.
However the wholesale price of Gas fell by about 70%. I’m all for private companies making a profit but isn’t it time that we reviewed how we as a country allow this to happen?
I’m also not a supporter of Governments running any businesses, they’re wasteful and generally incompetent, maybe some sort of “not for profit” entity should be set up to provide the country with what we perceive as essential?
They could still pay the wages they need to attract the best people and be the best place to work, they would find it harder to raise capital but given the Government and banks excellent ability to create money out of fresh air then the government and banks could step in and provide the capital needed which would then get paid back at market interest rates without the high returns that shareholders rightly expect.
Let us know what you think ….