The owner of British Gas plans to cut around 1,500 jobs this year.

In a trading update, Centrica said it is targeting cost savings of around £250 million, in addition to last year’s savings of £384 million.

It is part of Centrica’s plans to reduce annual costs by £750 million.

The energy giant’s energy supply accounts in the UK are down 261,000 in the year to date, “reflecting the planned roll-off of collective switch tariffs and a greater shift towards enhanced segmentation and customer value, not only volume”.

Its statement adds warmer than normal weather in the year resulted in “lower than planned” consumption in the UK and North America.

However, the company said it is on track to achieve the 2017 targets set out in its preliminary results, including adjusted operating cash flow to be above £2 billion and closing net debt expected to be in the £2.5 billion to £3 billion range.

Its Connected Home revenue was 30% higher to the end of April this year compared to the same period in 2016.

Iain Conn, Centrica Group Chief Executive said: “We continue to make good progress in implementing our customer-facing strategy, building on the underlying momentum we had as we entered 2017.

“Customer service is improving, we have launched new offers delivering choice for customers and rewarding loyalty and we continue to develop our technology capabilities. We remain on track to deliver against our 2017 targets.”

Earlier this year Centrica announced its operating profit went up 4% last year to £1.5 billion.