Centrica shares slide on May’s pledge

Centrica shares plunged to their lowest level since 2003 as the UK government plans to publish a draft law as early as next week to cap household energy prices.

Shares in the UK’s biggest power and gas supplier to homes fell as much as 7.4% and SSE dropped as much as 5%. Utilities from Germany’s EON and Spain’s Iberdrola with operations in Britain also fell as Theresa May followed through on an election promise to cap charges in what she called UK’s “broken” energy market.

Ms May’s government will “bring an end to rip-off energy prices,” she told delegates at the Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester. “We will always take on monopolies and vested interests when they are holding people back,” she said.