Sizewell B granted 20-year life extension Energy The government has granted the Sizewell B nuclear power plant a 20-year lifetime extension, meaning it will now continue to generate electricity until 2055. Majority-owner EDF and investor Centrica said they had agreed terms with the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, in a deal that will see its owners paid considerably less for [...]
British Gas to cough up £20m for ‘unfair treatment’ of vulnerable customers Energy British Gas is set to cough up £20m after the watchdog closed an investigation into the energy giant and found it “fell short in its treatment of an unacceptable number of vulnerable customers”. The investigation looked into British Gas’ treatment of customers who had prepayment meters (PPMs) installed without permission, with consumers set to benefit [...]
Sparking interest: Could utilities stocks power your portfolio? Investing The FTSE 100 isn’t known as the flashiest of stock markets, lacking the might of the trillion-dollar tech stocks of the US or the glamorous luxury conglomerates of France. But what it lacks in shine, it makes up for in reliability, with the index reporting a 21.5 gain in 2025, its strongest calendar year performance [...]
Top energy and City bosses called for summit with Starmer as oil surges March 29, 2026 A number of senior leaders from the likes of HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Shell will meet with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Monday as the government scrambles to help ease the unfolding energy crisis from the war in Iran. Top officials from the energy, finance and logistics sectors will attend the roundtable on Monday, [...]
UK must learn lessons from this crisis – starting with energy policy March 24, 2026 Has the US brought Iran to heel? Or has Iran discovered it has the upper hand? These are urgent questions and the world waits with bated breath for clear answers. Trump claims Iran approached the US, seeking a deal to end the war, and while the Iranians deny this it seems likely that contact has [...]
UK must ‘urgently’ reopen North Sea drilling amid global volatility March 24, 2026 Households and businesses will be left even more exposed to geopolitical shocks like the one playing out in the Middle East unless the government “urgently” reopens the UK’s North Sea oil fields to new drilling projects, an industry body has warned. In its annual temperature check of Britain’s energy industry, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) called [...]
There’s a new Magnificent 7, and it’s called the Fusty 5 February 24, 2026 The success of the ‘Magnificent 7’, a group of technology companies so called for their historic stock market performance and gargantuan scale, has to many been the defining market story of the past half-decade. The seven hyperscalers – which include Alphabet, Amazon and Nvidia – have carried the American stock market to a years-long streak [...]
British Gas owner shares tumble after buyback was paused February 19, 2026 London-listed energy giant Centrica shares plunged nine per cent on Thursday morning after the group paused its share buyback programme in the face of a major earnings hit. The owners of British Gas reported lower 2025 earnings than in the previous year, but the group says it was resilient in a challenging market. The group’s [...]
British Gas boss: Electricity bills to top Ukraine war heights February 11, 2026 Electricity bills will be higher in 2030 than in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the boss of British Gas has warned, as the government pushes through major upgrades to the UK’s grid infrastructure. Chris O’Shea, chief executive of British Gas-owner Centrica, said the UK was playing catch-up after years of underinvestment, and [...]
Centrica CEO: Regulate energy bosses like top bankers October 16, 2025 The boss of the UK’s largest energy supplier has called for the sector’s chief executives to be regulated like bankers, despite the government’s high-profile drive to slash red tape in a bid to boost the economy. During an evidence session with the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, Centrica’s Chris O’Shea told MPs he was [...]