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British Gas returned to profit during the first half of the year, its parent company has revealed.

Centrica said that the gas and electricity supplier made an operating profit of £533 million during the six months to June 30th, compared to a loss of £143 million in 2006.

Operating profits at Centrica also increased to £1.25 billion over the period, up from £692 million a year ago.

The energy firm acknowledged that profits for British Gas' residential business reached a "high point" during the first quarter of the year, before customers' bills were reduced in the wake of lower wholesale gas prices.

British Gas has implemented two price cuts for its residential customers so far this year following the reduction in wholesale gas costs, which have fallen as a result of additional supplies coming on stream via new pipelines from Norway and the Netherlands and a slump in demand due to the mild winter.

Centrica said that the energy price cuts announced by British Gas had been a "key factor" in the growth of the company's customer base.

British Gas, which lost around a million customers last year after announcing price increases, secured 46,000 new customer accounts during the second quarter to bring its total customer base to 15.8 million.

However commentators suggest that the profits announced by Centrica today will be taken as a sign by consumer groups that British Gas did not lower its prices soon enough.

Commenting on the company's performance, Centrica chairman Roger Carr insisted: "The results in the first six months have been due to exceptional circumstances and will not be repeated in the second half."

Both he and Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw stressed that wholesale prices for the coming winter would be high, with the latter claiming that uncertainty remains in the market over the level of price volatility and consumer demand due to unpredictable weather patterns.