Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, has announced its plans to cut 4,000 jobs before 2020 in its preliminary 2017 financial results announcement.

The company reported a drop in profits by 17% in 2017 to £1.25bn, attributing its “weak” financial performance partly to policy and regulatory intervention by the UK government. In response, the company plans to introduce a raft of new tariff options for customers by 31 March.

Ian Conn, Centrice Group CEO, said: “The combination of political and regulatory intervention in the UK energy market, concerns over the loss of energy customers in the UK, and the performance issue in North America have created material uncertainty around Centrica and, although we delivered on our financial targets for the year, this resulted in a very poor shareholder experience.”

Centrica’s shares have decreased by more than half their value over the past year, and British Gas in particular lost in the region of 750,000 customers during 2017.

HVP reached out to British Gas for more information, but the company declined to comment further.

The announcement read, in regards to the UK market: “We will continue to engage constructively with the UK government and regulator, and are committed to achieving a customer-focused competitive market which innovates, delivers great service and choice, is efficient, keeps bills as low as possible and provides protection for the vulnerable.”