Just 20 energy companies have made a staggering £457 billion in profits since the start of the energy bills crisis. [1]
As of the end of August, following 2024 interim results, profits have amounted to over £457 billion since just before the energy crisis started. £61 billion has been posted in profits this year alone.
The staggering sums are revealed in the End Fuel Poverty Coalition’s updated profit tracker which examines profits made by a sample of companies that include energy producers (such as Equinor and Shell) through to the firms that control our energy grid (such as National Grid, UK Power Networks and National Gas Transmission) as well as suppliers (such as British Gas). It does not include supply chains or market trading firms.
Ofgem’s most recent Price Cap announcement indicated that energy bills will rise 10% from 1 October.
As part of this rise, the regulator indicated that suppliers will be able to make an additional 11% in profits on every standard variable tariff. Analysis of these figures suggest that supplier profits allowed through the Price Cap could amount to c.£1.2 billion over the next 12 months, enough to cover the cost of Winter Fuel Payments for almost all pensioners. [2]
Warm This Winter spokesperson Caroline Simpson said:
“There are clearly an obscene level of profits being made and now energy suppliers have been given the green light to make a further £1.2 billion which is enough to cover the Winter Fuel Payment allowance for all pensioners.
“That’s why the government is right to take suppliers to task and ask them how they plan to help customers of all ages get through the winter ahead.
“We agree with the Government that we need to invest in homegrown renewable energy and an extensive programme of insulation to end this vicious cycle of bill shocks and reliance on volatile fossil fuels.”
A March 2024 Warm This Winter Tariff Watch report also called for improvements in transparency of the ownership of these firms after it found that British households had been boosting the profits of Chinese and Qatari Government-backed funds as the cost of the gas network has surged 38%.
A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition added:
“As we’ve said all along, there is plenty of money in the energy system, but it never ends up in the hands of consumers who are struggling to pay their energy bills.
“Millions are now in energy debt, pensioners have had their Winter Fuel Payments taken away and yet shareholders are seeing returns running to the billions of pounds every year.
“The Government must step in to end this unfairness, bring about an end to energy debt, an extension of Warm Home Discounts and restore Winter Fuel Payments to more pensioners.”
The Warm This Winter campaign is urging the public to join more than 4,500 people in writing to their MP or signing the 38 Degrees or Age UK petitions.
ENDS
[1] The updated tracker is available online at https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/news/energy-firm-profits-tracker/
[2] Ofgem Price Cap decision, p4 https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2024-08/Summary_of_Changes_to_Energy_Price_Cap_1_October_to_31_December_2024.pdf. EBIT allowance from 1 October 2024 is £44 per standard variable tariff customer per year. Ofgem state that 27m customers are on a standard variable tariff. £44 * 27m = £1.19bn.