IN announcing its record profits - just days after increasing energy bills by 22 per cent - Centrica was at pains yesterday to stress that its British Gas division was struggling rather badly.

Although Centrica banked an 11 per cent increase in overall profits to £1.51bn in 2005, annual profits at British Gas fell by 63 per cent from £242m to £90m.

It is an argument which is clearly a valid one if you happen to be a shareholder in the company.

But for the 17 million ordinary customers who face a huge hike in their fuel bills, and the British workers whose jobs are increasingly at risk because of the impact of soaring energy prices, it is irrelevant.

Centrica is basking in bigger profits than ever and asking consumers to cope with price rises that will put the most vulnerable members of society in danger because they simply will not be able to make ends meet.

It comes at a time when the Government has announced that winter fuel payments, designed to help the elderly cope, will be frozen for the next few years.

And while Centrica will hand out rebates of £90 to more than £300,000 of its hardest-hit customers, it adds up to a poor deal for pensioners in the light of the announcement of the fattest profits the company has ever made.

Centrica should be doing more with its £1.51bn of profits to cushion the blow for the vulnerable - and the Government must look again at winter fuel payments.