LONDON, March 26, 2026, 14:57 GMT
Centrica Plc shares were about 0.5% lower at 200.4 pence by 1119 GMT on Thursday after the British Gas owner unveiled a partnership with Ceres Power to offer on-site fuel-cell power to businesses across the UK and Europe. The broader London market was weaker too, with the FTSE 100 down about 0.9%. 1
The move matters now because power demand from data centres, AI compute hubs, factories and logistics sites is growing faster than grids can connect new loads. At the centre are solid oxide fuel cells — on-site units that turn fuel into electricity — which Ceres said can be rolled out faster than gas turbines or nuclear and can run on natural gas first, with a route to biogas and hydrogen later. 2
Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea said businesses “need more power,” while Ceres CEO Phil Caldwell said the attraction is a system that is “modular and can be deployed faster.” Centrica is also exploring whether Ceres’ electrolyser technology can work with its advanced modular reactor plans to make green hydrogen. 3
Ceres got the sharper market response. Its shares jumped 16% to 356.5 pence in FTSE 250 trade, even as it reported weaker 2025 revenue and a wider pretax loss, with traders focusing instead on what the company called “strong operational momentum” into 2026. 4
That leaves Centrica with a higher bar. The company last month cut its 2026 profit outlook for the Optimisation trading arm to about 250 million pounds from 300 million to 400 million pounds, paused its share buyback and posted a 39% drop in annual core profit; analysts at JPMorgan then warned the lower outlook and transformation costs could weigh on the shares in the near term. 5
Centrica has also been reshaping its gas supply portfolio. In February it signed a 10-year natural gas deal with Canada’s Whitecap Resources to manage market-price exposure across its liquefied natural gas portfolio. 6
The competitive picture is moving as well. Tesla won a licence this month to supply electricity to British homes, adding a fresh rival in UK retail power even as Centrica pushes harder into commercial and industrial energy services. 7
Still, the risk is execution. The announcement gave no financial terms, and Centrica’s muted share move suggests investors want signed projects and a clearer earnings path before they put much value on the partnership. 2
The next obvious shareholder marker is May 7, when investors will vote on a 3.67 pence final dividend that would take Centrica’s 2025 payout to 5.5 pence if approved. 8
