Acquisition

Centrica PLC
                  

Centrica boosts power generation portfolio to supply British Gas customers

Centrica plc today announced it has boosted its power generation portfolio by
increasing its interest from 60 to 100 per cent in Humber Power Limited, which
owns the gas fired 1260MW South Humber Bank power station in North Lincolnshire.
Centrica will make a cash payment of £46.5 million to Chanter Petroleum, a
subsidiary of Total. Taking into account the monies in Humber Power Limited and
Chanter Petroleum's lease financing obligations, this is equivalent to a price
paid of £150 million or £294/kW.

With the remaining 510MW of Humber Power added to its existing generation fleet
and the output from the fixed price element of its Spalding tolling agreement,
Centrica will now be able to access approximately 4GW of electricity output from
its portfolio. With British Gas as the UK's leading residential electricity
supplier, the acquisition increases the amount of electricity Centrica can
generate for its customers, equivalent to supplying 54 per cent of its peak
residential customer demand from its portfolio.

Over the course of the year, based on expected load factors, Centrica's
portfolio and its British Energy supply contract will be capable of delivering
enough power, in volume terms, to supply the equivalent of its forecast
residential customer demand in 2006.

The acquisition will allow Centrica to extract maximum benefit from owning 100
per cent of the highly efficient plant. Centrica already employs the staff which
operate the station on behalf of Humber Power. For the financial year ending 31
December 2004, Humber Power Limited reported profit before tax of £55 million,
with gross assets, including cash, of £532 million.

The deal is in line with Centrica's strategy of increasing the amount of gas and
electricity it provides to British Gas customers from its own sources. Centrica
already operates the largest fleet of combined cycle gas turbine power stations
in the UK and has invited tenders for the 1010MW Langage power station project
in Devon, where it expects to make a final construction decision in the first
half of 2006. It also completed its first coal linked power purchase agreement
earlier this year.

Sir Roy Gardner, Chief Executive of Centrica, said: 'As the UK's leading
household electricity supplier, this is an important deal that enables us to
increase the amount of generation we can call on to supply our British Gas
customers.

'The agreement is in line with our strategy to acquire high quality upstream
assets, enabling us to generate a higher proportion of our own electricity
requirements. This will be supported by further contracts and tolling
arrangements as part of our risk management strategy.'

South Humber Bank power station was commissioned in two phases between 1997 and
1999 and represents one of the UK's most modern and efficient gas fired plants.
Centrica acquired its 60 per cent interest in 2001.

Enquiries:

Centrica Media Relations 01753 494085
Centrica Investor Relations 01753 494900