British Gas Statement on Energy Prices

Centrica PLC
                  Statement by Centrica plc

26 April 2007

BRITISH GAS ANNOUNCES A SECOND PRICE CUT OF £40 EFFECTIVE TODAY - TOTAL
REDUCTION OF £207 THIS YEAR

British Gas today announced a further cut to its standard electricity and gas
rates for domestic customers with immediate effect. Its electricity rates fall
by a further 6 per cent and gas rates fall by 3 per cent.(1)

Together with the decrease announced earlier in the year this second round of
price cuts for British Gas customers reduces the average annual dual fuel bill
by £207. This takes average prices down to £913 from £1,120(2) in just over six
weeks. British Gas' standard dual fuel tariff is now cheaper than the local
supplier in every area of the country(3) and Click Energy remains the cheapest
energy tariff on the market.(4)

This move follows the 12 March price cut which saw the company reduce standard
gas prices by 17 per cent and electricity by 11 per cent.(5)

Since British Gas announced the March price cut in February, over 678,000 new
customers have signed up, and it has seen overall net growth of its customer
base since the start of April 2007.

British Gas' new Managing Director Phil Bentley said: 'We want British Gas to
offer the best value around. We've taken the lead on lower prices and we are
committed to restoring our customer service to an industry-leading level. That's
why we've added an extra 800 people to our call centres, scrapped plans for the
£5 late payment charge, and why we are reducing our prices again - and doing it
immediately. Our two price cuts within the space of seven weeks will mean annual
savings of £207 for our customers - while some of our competitors have failed to
cut prices even once. Since we announced our first price cut more than 678,000
customers have signed up to British Gas and we're now growing our customer base.

'As well as being cheaper than our competitors, we are also greener: British Gas
is the biggest supplier of green power to UK homes and our electricity has the
lowest CO2 emissions of any major UK energy supplier.'

Last month, British Gas also launched the UK's largest social tariff, the
Essentials Tariff, at a cost of up to £40 million per year. Essentials will
lower gas and electricity bills for up to 750,000 vulnerable customers -
equivalent to the cheapest British Gas standard tariff. Following today's
announcement prepayment meter customers who qualify for Essentials will have
seen their energy bills drop by 28 per cent since 11 March which will mean an
annual saving of £322.(6)

As a further measure for customers seeking reassurance over volatile energy
prices in the future, British Gas has updated its Price Guarantee 2008 product.
At no extra premium and with no early exit penalty, customers who take this
product are guaranteed British Gas' new cheaper prices until 31 May 2008. The
company is writing to all its existing Price Guarantee 2008 customers to confirm
that today's electricity and gas price cut will automatically apply to them.(7)

After this price cut British Gas will still deliver a sustainable margin in 2007
which enables it to make necessary future investments.

-0-
*T
Dual Fuel prices at 26.04.07
------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Local                       Local     British Gas     British Gas
  Supplier  Region           Supplier's   bill             Saving (£)
                                bill
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Scottish   Scottish Power      £943          £847            £96
    Power   ------------------------------------------------------------
            Manweb              £934          £839            £95
------------------------------------------------------------------------
            London              £943          £816           £127
            ------------------------------------------------------------
 EDF Energy Seeboard            £934          £809           £125
            ------------------------------------------------------------
            SWEB                £969          £840           £129
------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Midlands            £981          £845           £136
            ------------------------------------------------------------
 npower(8)  Northern            £994          £857           £137
            ------------------------------------------------------------
            Yorkshire           £984          £850           £134
------------------------------------------------------------------------
            East Midlands       £941          £832           £109
            ------------------------------------------------------------
Powergen(9) Eastern             £941          £831           £110
            ------------------------------------------------------------
            Norweb              £951          £846           £105
------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Scottish Hydro      £829          £827            £2
Scottish and------------------------------------------------------------
  Southern  Southern            £840          £824            £16
            ------------------------------------------------------------
            Swalec              £859          £853            £6
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bills are based on industry average annual consumption of 20,500 kWh for
 gas and 3,300 kWh for single-rate metered electricity paying by monthly
 direct debit
------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online Dual Fuel prices at 26.04.07
------------------------------------------------------------------------
British Gas Click Energy 2         £755
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Powergen                           £779
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scottish Power                     £773
------------------------------------------------------------------------
npower                             £785
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scottish and Southern              £787
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDF                                £857
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

Ends

Centrica Investor Relations: 01753 494900

Media Relations Contacts:
Alan McLaughlin: 01753 494105/07789 570598
Mish Tullar: 01753 494104/07789 570808
Anne Morton: 01753 494106/07979 566274

Notes to Editors.

All price comparisons are based on industry standard average annual gas
consumption of 20,500 kWh and electricity consumption of 3,300 kWh on a single
rate meter, are rounded and include VAT at 5%. Excludes any prompt payment
discount that may be available from other suppliers. Electricity price
reductions averaged across all electricity regions - actual decrease will vary
by region and meter type.

£ saving quoted in the headline is based on payment quarterly by cash or cheque.

1. For ALL standard tariffs - monthly direct debit, quarterly by cash/cheque or
prepayment giving a further reduction of £40 for the average dual fuel customer
paying by quarterly cash/cheque.

2. Based on payment quarterly by cash or cheque.

3. Compares our standard Monthly Direct Debit prices to those of Powergen,
Scottish Power, npower, Scottish & Southern and EDF, in their former host supply
regions as at 26 April.

4. Based on a dual fuel comparison of major suppliers on UK Power as at 25 April
in each region.

5. Based on quarterly cash/cheque and monthly direct debit prices.

6. Compares prepayment tariffs as at 11th March 2007 to monthly direct debit
tariff as of 26th April 2007.

7. Due to the close proximity of the April 26th price reduction announcement to
when Price Guarantee 2008 was launched, customers who have already signed up to
it will also see the reduction in their energy rates. They are also guaranteed
their credit payment as a result of this latest price reduction announcement,
after 31st May 08, provided they are still on this product at that time. With
the exception of Price Protection 2010, customers on our other price protected
deals will not be subject to cancellation fees should they decide to move off
their price protective tariff. Price Protection 2010 prices are lower than our
26th April 2007 standard rates.

8. Reflects npower's current prices. Even after npower's price reduction on 30th
April British Gas will remain cheaper than npower for dual fuel in their home
areas on average by £17 (dual fuel monthly direct debit).

9. Reflects Powergen's current prices. Even after Powergen's price reduction on
30th April British Gas will remain cheaper than Powergen for dual fuel across
their home area on average by £23 (dual fuel monthly direct debit).