Under Iain Conn, the owner of British Gas is shifting away from an integrated approach and sticking to what it knows best in the energy market

Under its last chief executive, Centrica told its shareholders for half a decade that it was absolutely essential that the company should explore for, and produce, more oil and gas while simultaneously generating more of its own energy. Over-reliance on one end of the energy market – the retail business, meaning British Gas – was deemed dangerous. Centrica needed a spread of investments. Integrated Energy – the title of the annual report as late as 2012 – was the philosophy.

Centrica’s new boss, Iain Conn, like his predecessor Sam Laidlaw, comes from the world of Big Oil but he can see, as everybody can, the flaw in the old approach. Centrica, in spending the thick end of £10bn on oil and gas assets, made a bad bet and acquired a habit it can no longer afford.

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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS