PR Week Echo Columns

Centrica's "management statement" set off a "storm of protest" (Times, 13 May) by issuing a strong signal that domestic gas prices will rise again this year and that the other energy suppliers would follow Centrica's lead. Tim Wolfenden of price comparison site USwitch.com warned "The situation is starting to look pretty drastic for a lot of customers…[but] this is not exclusive to British Gas" (Guardian, 13 May). Centrica's announcement explained that profits were "materially down" but that the company would "take the necessary action to deliver reasonable profit margins" (ITV.com, 12 May).

BBC's business editor Robert Peston broke a concurrent story speculating that Centrica may have persuaded the Treasury to include a share + cash option for the sale of nuclear supplier British Energy so it could have "a stable source of power that would help to protect its margins when wholesale prices are volatile" (BBC, 12 May). Elsewhere consumer watchdog Age Concern championed the elderly, saying "vulnerable older people will yet again have to make difficult choices between paying for food and paying for fuel" (Daily Record, 13 May) or, more emotionally, they had to face the choice of whether to "eat or heat" (Times, 13 May).