Who will shed a tear for British Gas as it fell into the red during the second half of last year? Probably not many among the millions who continue to grapple with the cost of heating their homes.

The business, which trades as Scottish Gas in this country, has today posted a 10-fold rise in profits to £751 million after industry regulator Ofgem allowed suppliers to claim more from billpayers to recoup some of the costs of selling energy at below wholesale price during the height of the crisis. Energy group Centrica, the owner of British Gas and Scottish Gas, said approximately £500m of the hike in profits was a "direct result" of those changes.

But the regulatory boost was mitigated by a sharp increase in bad debts from those struggling to pay sky-high utility bills, coupled with lower average consumption and higher operating costs. Because of these headwinds, British Gas was loss-making in the second half of last year after the extremely buoyant initial six months of 2023.

READ MORE: Scottish Gas profits surge as energy bill rules relaxed

Even so, the optics on that 10-fold surge in annual profits look bad coming as they did on the same day as fresh government figures show that 3.17 million low income households in England struggled to heat draughty homes in 2023.

Furthermore, more than 36% or some 8.9 million households were forced to spend more than 10% of their income, after housing costs, on domestic energy bills. That was up from 6.6 million in 2022.

The situation in this country is even worse. Latest figures from the end of last year from National Energy Action show that around 850,000 households (34%) are in fuel poverty in Scotland, while more than half a million (22%) are in extreme fuel poverty.

No surprise then that Centrica has recorded an 82% hike in bad debts across its 10 million strong customer base. The company has nevertheless increased its full year dividend by a third in a move worth £144m to its shareholders.

“I said this before and I want to take this opportunity to say it again: to be sustainable you must make a profit," chief executive Chris O'Shea said in defence of the payout.

"Which is super important because every consumer in the UK is paying £88 for the failure of other energy suppliers in the last few years. If more companies fail, these costs go on to customer bills.”