Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has reported a big fall in profits after being hit by the drop in oil prices and by warmer weather.
Centrica's full-year operating profits fell by 35% to £1.75bn.
Profits at British Gas's residential business fell by 23% to £439m after warmer weather meant households used less energy for heating.
Centrica said the fall in global oil and gas prices had forced it to write off £1.4bn from its balance sheet.
In early morning trade in London, shares in Centrica were down by 7.4%, or 20p, at 261 pence.
Continue reading the main storyCentrica also said it was having to cut capital investment in the North Sea by 40% between now and 2016, as its planned returns from the region were being "completely compressed".
Chief executive Iain Conn told the BBC: "Other companies are doing the same thing. It's difficult, but it is what we have to do to position the company sustainably."
Meanwhile, the full-year dividend pay-out for 2014 will be 21% lower than 2013, at 13.5p
'Challenges'Mr Conn, the former BP executive who took over as Centrica boss last month, admitted that "2014 was not the year we had planned it to be".
He added that the Windsor-based firm continued "to face a number of challenges as we enter 2015, particularly the significant further reductions in wholesale oil and gas prices since the middle of December".
Centrica also said that the average dual fuel profit per household was now £42, some £10 lower than in 2014.
The average residential customer bill of £1,152 in 2014 was about £100 lower than in 2013.
The number of residential accounts supplied by British Gas fell by 368,000 in 2014 to end the year on 14.8 million.
The company said that it had experienced a significant loss of customers in the first quarter of 2014, after an increase in residential prices in November 2013, but that the rate of customer loss was reduced during the rest of the year.
"The market remains highly competitive, with recent reductions in standard tariffs and most suppliers also offering a range of fixed price products," said Centrica.
The volume of gas it sold over the year fell by 20%, and electricity by 8%.
As well as cutting investments and costs, Mr Conn has also launched a strategic review of the business.
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