Dubbed ‘Profiteers Week’, this week will see interim results from five energy companies who have already banked over £240 billion since the start of the energy crisis as campaigners call for a proper tax on all those in the sector making ‘obscene’ profits. Meanwhile, the latest reporting reflects that Up to 45% or 615,000 people in Wales are living in fuel poverty.
Energy companies: rolling in it
Interim results this week show the following profits:
- Iberdrola (owners of Scottish Power) pocketed £3.8 billion.
- Equinor have made £5.8 billion.
- Centrica (British Gas) who made £1 billion.
- EDF who have banked £8 billion.
- Drax who have made £463 million.
This brings the total profits made by just these five companies since 2020 to over £241,576,960,000.
Commissioned by campaign group, Warm This Winter, the energy profit tracker monitors the declared profits of firms ranging from energy producers (such as Equinor and Shell) through to the firms that control our energy grid (such as National Grid, UK Power Networks and Cadent) as well as suppliers (such as British Gas).
“It’s just obscene”
Climate Cymru Campaign Coordinator spokesperson David Kilner said:
Frankly it is just obscene. In fact it’s hard to grasp the mind boggling greed, plunging people in to poverty so that these corporations can make a billion pounds each week [2] under the last government since the energy crisis started three years ago.
That is why we have to bring back fairness and introduce a proper tax on all companies profiteering in the energy sector while six million people in the UK are living in fuel poverty, facing a stark choice between heating and eating.
The new Labour governments have inherited a broken energy system, they must act urgently to address it – we must see urgent action to support struggling households through the next winter.
In total, energy corporations have made nearly £427 billion in profits since the energy crisis according to the analysis of company reports to June this year.
Energy companies are making a killing – while killing the rest of us
End Fuel Poverty Coalition coordinator Simon Francis said:
These figures show that there is plenty of money in our broken energy system. But rather than this money being used to help people struggling in cold damp homes and with the record cost of energy, the cash is being used to line the pockets of energy firms.
As households struggle in energy debt and even turn to illegal money lenders, new ministers must step in. We need to ensure the most vulnerable households are protected with a more comprehensive warm homes discount, action to bring down energy debt and the Treasury must draw a line in the sand to stop this profiteering.
Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift added:
The UK’s high dependence on expensive gas is why millions are still struggling with unaffordable energy bills. Energy companies obviously want to lock us into oil and gas for years to come to keep the profits rolling in, but the only way to reduce bills is to insulate homes and switch to homegrown renewable energy. We need to see the government now deliver on its commitment to move us off oil and gas and onto a better, fairer energy system.
Warm This Winter will be updating the energy industry profit tracker at the end of July.
Featured image via the Canary
