Peter Lazenby
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AS BELEAGUERED customers faced further price hikes today, the scale of Britain's energy rip-off was revealed.
The energy firms have collectively reaped profits of £420 billion since 2020, according to research by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.
For comparison, the annual budget of the Department of Health & Social Care, which includes the NHS, was £181.7bn in 2022-3.
Though the Ofgem-imposed price cap, limiting what customers pay for each unit of gas and electricity that we use, fell today to £1,690 a year for a typical household, the average standing charge rose from £303 a year to £334.
These charges, which have to be paid even if no gas or electricity is used, have risen by 147 per cent since the 2022 outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Those cashing in on the profits dividend include not only the energy providers but also the firms that own the wires and pipes through which electricity and gas supplies travel, all publicly owned prior to privatisation in 1990.
End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “As standing charges go up today, households will have to cut back on their energy use just to keep their bills the same.
“This means households continue to suffer as a few energy firms make billions in profits from running the electricity and gas networks.”
He said the profits “have caused pain and suffering among people living in fuel poverty for the last few years.”
Fiona Waters of Warm This Winter said: “The public are beyond frustrated at being a cash machine for companies who use our broken energy system to cream as much profit as they can out of them while hard-working people are up to their eyeballs in energy debt and fat cat bosses splurge their excessive wealth on luxuries.”
She called for introduction of a windfall tax on the profiteers to help people who are still paying 60 per cent more than they were on their energy bills three years ago.
Cash-strapped households also face essential bills increases for council tax, internet access, mobile phone use, stamps, water and sewerage from today as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite.
