British gas saw record profits in 2009, it has been announced. A 58 per cent increase in profit saw the residential side of the company profit by £595million – an improvement on the 2007 figure of £573million.

In response to this, British Gas will aim for a profit margin of around 7 per cent this year, where 2009 was closer to 8 per cent. This means that gas prices will be reduced by around 7 per cent and could also see 1,100 jobs created this year.

The energy supplier acquired 141,000 customers last year, taking its total customer base to 15.7million homes.