Centrica
business, enterprise and public company in United Kingdom
Centrica plc is a British multinational energy and services company with its headquarters in Windsor, Berkshire, England.
It is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the United Kingdom, and one of the largest suppliers of electricity, operating under the trading names British Gas in England and Wales, Scottish Gas in Scotland, and Bord Gáis Energy in Ireland.
Centrica is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
History
Predecessors
The company has its historical origin in the Gas Light and Coke Company which incorporated in 1812. Over the next 137 years, it grew by acquisition of other gas companies to become the primary supplier of gas to Greater London. In 1949, under the Gas Act 1948 the ownership of the company transferred to a government agency, North Thames Gas Board. The various area gas boards were merged into the national British Gas Corporation in 1973. The Gas Act 1986 sold the company to private investors as British Gas plc.
Origin
Centrica became a separate, distinct corporation on 17 February 1997, when British Gas plc split (demerged) to form three separate companies: Centrica plc, BG plc and Transco plc. Centrica took over gas sales and gas trading, services and retail businesses, together with the gas production operations in the North and South Morecambe gas fields (Rampside Gas Terminal).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Centrica” as business, enterprise and public company in United Kingdom. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as business, enterprise and public company in United Kingdom. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q259013. VIAF identifies the subject as 126921059. The Library of Congress control number is nb2005010340. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1812, 1949, 1948 and 1973.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Centrica”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Centrica primary sources, Centrica archive and Centrica research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Centrica”?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Centrica” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.