British Gas

British Gas is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving around twelve million homes in the UK, British Gas is the biggest UK energy supplier and is considered one of the Big Six dominating the gas and electricity market in the United Kingdom.

The brand British Gas remains from the demerger of the British Gas Corporation in 1997, which formed Centrica, BG Group and Transco. The British Gas Corporation was a result of the restructuring of the UK gas industry following the Gas Act 1972. The act merged all of the area boards and created the British Gas Corporation.

The British Gas Corporation was privatised as British Gas plc by the Thatcher government and on 8 December 1986 its shares were floated on the London stock market.

Centrica trades as Scottish Gas in Scotland.

History

1812-1948

The Gas Light and Coke Company was the first public utility company in the world. It was founded by Frederick Albert Winsor and incorporated by Royal Charter on 30 April 1812 under the seal of King George III. It continued to thrive for the next 136 years, expanding into domestic services whilst absorbing many smaller companies including the Aldgate Gas Light and Coke Company (1819), the City of London Gas Light and Coke Company (1870), the Equitable Gas Light Company (1871), the Great Central Gas Consumer's Company (1870), Victoria Docks Gas Company (1871), Western Gas Light Company (1873), Imperial Gas Light and Coke Company (1876), Independent Gas Light and Coke Company (1876), the London Gas Light Company (1883), Richmond Gas Company (1925), Brentford Gas Company (1926), Pinner Gas Company (1930) and Southend-on-Sea and District Gas Company (1932).

British Gas plc

British Gas plc was an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It was formed when the British Gas Corporation was privatized in 1986 as a result of the privatizations instigated by the government of Margaret Thatcher.

History

The company was formed when the Conservative Government, led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, introduced the Gas Act 1986 in which led to the privatisation of the British Gas Corporation, and on 8 December 1986 its shares floated on the London stock market. To encourage individuals to become shareholders, the offer was intensely advertised with the "If you see Sid...Tell him!" campaign. The initial public offering of 135p per share valued the company at £9 billion, the highest equity offering ever at the time.

The government also created an industry regulator, the Office of Gas Supply (Ofgas), to protect customer needs. It later became part of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem).

In preparation for the opening of the gas supply markets to competition in 1996, British Gas plc had to go through a major restructuring which separated the company into five divisions.

British Gas (disambiguation)

British Gas may refer to: