Hapless bloke in cream woolly jumper and 1980s moustache dashes out of the village pub, knocks over a postman on a bicycle, and enthusiastically endorses British Gas shares. This much-remembered scene came from the 1986 Tell Sid TV advertising campaign, which encouraged the public to buy into the energy supplier’s privatisation, and its echoes will reverberate this week.
British Gas owner Centrica will on 28 July announce its results for the first half of the year. It’s a critical day in the energy industry, with oil behemoth Shell revealing its second-quarter numbers, and National Grid planning to publish its initial outlook for winter electricity supplies.
