I am not surprised. My average winter quarter bill over the last three years was £360. This year the charge is £752, and my tariff is supposed to be fixed.

iain laurie, elgin,

Read the figures and what you see is that the company didn't do well on the residential side of the business this year, so is it really price gouging? The money it made came from upstream parts of the business i.e. the extraction of the oil and gas in the first place. Centrica has hedged its options, like other companies. When crude oil and gas prices go up, it's residential retail arm loses profitability, but the upstream side producing the oil and gas, becomes more profitable. Normally the retail earns more. The fact is the cost of oil and gas has more than doubled over the last decade as places like China demand more. Have electricity anfd gas bills gone up by as much? If people are complaining so much, why don't they do more to reduce their energy losses in their homes? it's not as if there isn't support for this (grants etc), meanwhile shops leave their doors open with the heat gushing out. Who monitors their fuel bills these days? Not enough people that's what.

John, Knutsford, UK

No company that provides vital basic services to the UK, including gas, electricity, water and petrol should be making ridiculously high profits off the backs of consumers even in the best of economic times - Fair pricing standards should be enforced - Profits are what keeps a business running, but consumers can only afford to pay so much for a service - Eventually they will be priced out of the market and will have to ask government for assistance to meet the demands of these monopolistic companies - Taxes will then go up even more to meet the demand for this assistance - Consumer spending will drop considerably - Jobs will be lost - The economy crashes - Government will be blamed - Meanwhile, Centrica and the others will continue to report record profits and their shareholders will be laughing all the way to their summer homes in Ibiza -

WTaylor, London, UK

Rather than have 5 hours of culture children should have 5 hours of economics.
Cenntrica operates in a very competitive market. If that market is rigged then it is a matter for the OFT. If not it is a matter for no one.
If Centrica are growing their profits by providing a desirable product in an eficient matter they should be praised. This is a rarity amongst UK businesses.
If their is fuel poverty, and I don't doubt it, that is a matter (largely) of taxation. By taxing those on low-incomes so heavily it is the government that is the bad guy.

Eddie Reader, birmingham, england

Centrica is one of the few British companies left in this market?

They'll buy their energy a year ahead, so the current price rises will reflect prices for 2009.

David, Enfield,

On the Downing St website their is a petition calling for a windfall tax on the profits of these greedy companies

Richard , Bexhill, UK

When the elderly, infirm and retired who are on fixed incomes are hit with a 15% rise in price for a commodity they cannot do without read that the supplier is posting record massive profits we know we are in the grip of a system that cares nothing for its people. The power supply industry should never have been placed in the hands of greedy shareholders. Rip off Britain strikes again.

mike gee, bournemouth, uk

It's about time the utilities were all investigated for their legalised stealing. The rise in gas prices is directly proportionate to the rise in wholesale prices but when it comes to the falls, then only part of the real price fall is passed on and then it is ususally 'phased in' over a quarter!
The reason they do this is because they have a monopoly and they can get away with it. From where I am sitting the British are being fleeced left right and centre by greedy corporations led by equally greedy executives. Corporate greed is rife in this country and the government and its toothless watchdogs look on and do nothing because it is good for government coffers.

David Thijm, Stourbridge, UK

Does anyone realize the vast amount of money is clawed by the Government from Centrica to go back into the pockets of the moaning reds?

noel matthews, grand rapids, mi/ usa

Forget Northern Rock nationalise the rip off foreign owned utility companies Gordon.

Cromwell, Leeeds, England