British Gas owner, Centrica has revealed its plans of cutting 1,500 jobs during the course of the year as part of its cost efficiency programme targeted to yield £750m in savings by 2020.

Last year as well, Centrica had announced to cut around 3,000 jobs, as part of the same cost efficiency programme.

The multinational utility company said that it was targeting efficiency savings of about £250m in 2017, in addition to previous year’s £384m savings.

Centrica Group CEO Iain Conn said: “We continue to make good progress in implementing our customer-facing strategy, building on the underlying momentum we had as we entered 2017.

“Customer service is improving, we have launched new offers delivering choice for customers and rewarding loyalty and we continue to develop our technology capabilities. We remain on track to deliver against our 2017 targets.”

Centrica disclosed that its energy supply accounts in the UK declined to 261,000 in the year to date. This, it said reflected the planned reduction of collective switch tariffs and a significant tilt towards improved segmentation and customer value, and not just volume.

The energy utility further said that its gross margin was affected by warm weather conditions, volatility of electricity costs along with phasing of energy volume settlements.

In its latest trading update, Centrica reported that its supplies in the US and UK had consumed lesser energy than otherwise as a result of the prevailing above average temperatures during the current year.

In June 2015, Centrica has outlined plans to divest up to £1bn wind power and oil and gas assets within the next two years in an effort to focus on energy supply and services. It had also planned to remove 6,000 jobs, which is 10% of its staff.

The company intended to increase its service offerings to the market, including assistance to large business groups in the implementation of power saving measures such as energy-efficient light bulbs, reported Reuters.

Image: The multinational utility company said that it was targeting efficiency savings of about £250m in 2017. Photo courtesy of Centrica plc.