Householders boosted profits for British Gas owner Centrica at the start of the year as consumption increased by nearly a fifth compared with 2012 during the prolonged cold snap.

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British Gas bosses braced for backlash at annual meeting

Angry pensioners and disabled people will confront British Gas bosses today when the energy giant holds its Annual General Meeting.

Police call for smartphone app backup

They are, by their own admission, more used to the pocket-book and pen. But a group of police officers are meeting with technology experts this weekend to try to develop a set of smartphone apps which could help them catch criminals.

A snow plough clears the A66 near Bowes where the road was closed for several hours due to heavy snow as forecasters have warned that another cold snap is on its way -

Snow and cold weather in March adds £80 to cost of home heating

Increases in energy prices threaten to push much of the population into fuel poverty

Trouble in store as snow and cold weather hits gas supplies

Britain's supplies are at the mercy of the weather and volatile markets unless it increases its meagre storage capacity, says Tom Bawden

Best buy energy tariffs can drift so much customers end up paying too much

The energy company that’s leading the way in guaranteeing a fair tariff

How much is a price promise worth? That obviously depends on what the promise says. In the home energy market, there have been plenty of false promises from suppliers seemingly focused only on squeezing extra profits out of hard-up people.

British Gas chief to leave Centrica with £15m pension

The outgoing British Gas head Phil Bentley will leave its parent company, Centrica, with shares, rights to long-term incentive bonuses and a pension pot worth an estimated £15m, it has emerged.

Ben Chu: This energy debate has produced overpriced heat, but little reforming light

Outlook Multinational energy firm announces fat profits as pensioners freeze to death following an inflation-busting hike in fuel bills. It doesn't take a corporate public relations genius to spot that particular mantrap.

Anger at British Gas as owner Centrica reports £606m profit

Energy company raised tariffs by 6 per cent for over 8 million households at the end of last year

Tom Bawden: BG worth bagging as it gets a handle on the problems

Investment View: Some apparent disadvantages are actually advantages in the longer term

Royal Mail wins British Gas deal

Royal Mail has won back a contract to deliver statements to British Gas customers, which it lost to a rival in 2007.

Electric pylons linking the Hinkley Point nuclear power station to the National Grid

The triple whammy for nuclear power: Centrica, Cumbria, clean-up costs

Centrica pulling out of a vital new plant and blows on the cost and location of radioactive waste have darkened the industry's prospects, says Tom Bawden

The cost of Hinkley Point (pictured in 2011), which Edf put at £9bn in December 2010, is now reported to be £14bn

Taxpayer billions could be secretly funnelled to Edf to underwrite cost of proposed power station at Hinkley Point

Billions of pounds of taxpayers money could be secretly funnelled to the French state nuclear company Edf to underwrite the cost of its proposed new power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset, it emerged today.

Questions of Cash: Debt collectors chased bill that arrived four years too late

Q. I have just received a bill for over £300 from British Gas, after I was initially contacted by a debt collection agency. The bill was for an eight-month period in 2008, for an address where I was a tenant. This is the first I heard of the bill. I can no longer recall who the energy supplier was, but I remember organising a final payment over the phone after I left the property. My bank account shows that I paid £30.97 to British Gas just after I left the property. The bill was dated November 2012 and based entirely on estimated readings. RC, Glasgow.

What The Sunday Papers Said

Network Rail has said it is ready to pay nearly £35m in train-travel expenses to its staff in 2011-13, around £1,000 per employee, as passengers suffer massive new year fare increases. Staff who worked for British Rail before privatisation 20 years ago had rail-pass perks safeguarded as part of the terms of the deal. Workers employed since then have limited free travel.

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