According to its preliminary results, Centrica's market shares in residential energy supply declined in 2013, by about 2 percentage point for gas (from 40% in 2012 to 38%) and by 0.6 percentage point for electricity (to 24.5%). The group suffered from a 2.3% loss in its client base (-3% for gas and -1.4% for electricity), with 15.3 million customers in 2013. Residential gas sales dipped by 3% while electricity sales declined by 2%. Despite these adverse conditions, gross revenues rose by 3% to £9.5bn in 2013. Business sales were stables at around £3.1bn in 2013, as electricity consumption remained stable (gas consumption from commercial customers fell by 17%, due to a 10% drop in their average consumption and to a 4% loss in gas customers).
Centrica's upstream operations benefited from a strong increase in gas production (+19% to 3.6 mmth, i.e. 10 bcm), thanks to a 49% hike in Norwegian gas output (+28% in North America and +21% in the UK and the Netherlands). Oil production remained overall stable (+7% to 18.7 mboe). The group also benefited from higher gas prices.