AGM Statement

Centrica PLC
13 May 2002

13 May 2002

Centrica customer relationships exceed 44 million

Sir Michael Perry, Chairman of Centrica plc, told shareholders at the annual
general meeting in London today that performance in 2001 had been excellent,
marking five years of continuous progress since demerger.

Speaking at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre, he said last year's solid
performance in all businesses was particularly significant because it had been
achieved against a background of tough competition and growing economic
uncertainty.

'Our strategy to create value for shareholders is based on building lasting
customer relationships through our portfolio of leading brands and Centrica now
has more than 44 million customer relationships,' he said.

Chief Executive Roy Gardner said Centrica's transformation from a single product
UK utility into an international consumer marketing company was continuing.

'We remain very clear on our vision - to be a leading supplier of essential
services in our chosen markets. In many markets we already hold or are close to
holding that position. The AA is the UK's largest intermediary for personal
insurance for example, and in North America we are already the leading
unregulated supplier of energy,' he said.

Last week's completion of the acquisition of Enbridge Services Inc. added 1.75
million Canadian customer relationships, bringing the total in North America to
3.7 million.

Following the completion of the recently announced acquisition of Texas based
Central Power and Light Company and West Texas Utilities Company from American
Electric Power (AEP), Centrica will have almost 4.5 million customer
relationships with North American households.

Mr Gardner told shareholders that Centrica remained the leading supplier of
energy to British homes with more than 13 million gas customers and around 5.5
million electricity customers. As expected, Centrica's British Gas business has
seen increased gas customer losses following the decision to raise prices at the
beginning of this year, but steps have been taken to address the position
against a background of subsequent competitor price increases. The profitability
of the gas business has improved.

Centrica continued to make progress in the commercial energy market. The
integration of Enron Direct's 160,000 customers had almost doubled its
commercial electricity base and offered a strong platform for delivery of the
group's business to business strategy.

Mr Gardner said the group's telecoms business continued to grow. Centrica now
has 1.25 million fixed and mobile telephony customers and is targeting higher
usage customers with products such as Everycall240. In January this year the
company moved into the ADSL broadband market, acquiring the customers of iomart
Group plc and recently launched a very competitively priced product.





AA roadside membership continued to grow in 2002 and now stands at more than
12.4 million, an increase of nearly three million members since acquisition less
than three years ago. The AA's insurance and loan products were continuing to
perform strongly. A new marketing campaign to be launched later this month is
expected to drive further organic growth across the AA.

Centrica was also making good progress on product roll out for Goldfish. 'So far
this year we have introduced home and travel insurance, an investment product
and an internet based savings account,' he said.

In conclusion Mr Gardner told shareholders he was confident of Centrica's
ability to maintain its record of good organic growth and higher earnings in the
highly competitive markets in which it operates.

Enquiries:

Centrica media relations:          01753 494085

Centrica investor relations:       01753 494900



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange