British Gas owner loses thousands of household accounts

British Gas owner Centrica has revealed it has lost another 107,000 household accounts, as it also upped its annual cost savings by £50m.

But the UK’s biggest gas and electricity supplier said it had eased the rate of customer losses, which were lower than the first half of the year, when it shed 178,000 accounts.

The group also said it now expects annual cost savings of £300m from the previous target of £250m, while it is trimming planned investment spend by £100m to about £800m.

Centrica is already axing up to 2,000 jobs over 2019 as part of overall aims to save £1bn by 2022, but gave assurances that the increased cost savings this year will not lead to further staff cuts.