Centrica has won approval from the Office of Fair Trading to buy a 20 per cent stake in British Energy from EDF in a £2.3bn deal that would pave the way for Centrica to share electricity and profits from a number of new nuclear power plants.

The OFT noted that the deal raised concerns in the energy industry that competition would be reduced by EDF and Centrica – two of Europe’s largest power companies – jointly owning British Energy.