‘An insult’: huge profits at Shell and Centrica cause outrage amid soaring energy bills
Soaring profits at the energy companies Shell and Centrica have been described as an “insult” to millions of people struggling with the cost of living crisis, as high oil and gas prices funded multibillion pound rewards for their shareholders.
A day after millions of households were warned that average annual energy bills could hit £3,850 from January, triple the level at the beginning of this year, two of the UK’s biggest energy companies sparked outrage with their bumper profits.
Shell posted record earnings of $11.4bn (nearly £10bn) for the three-month period from April to June and promised to give shareholders payouts worth £6.5bn.
Asked about the stark contrast with the punishingly high bills faced by households already struggling amid sky-high inflation, Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, said the company could not “perform miracles”.
At the same time, Centrica, the owner of British Gas, reinstated its dividend, handing investors £59m, after reporting operating profits of £1.3bn during the first half of 2022.
Soaring wholesale prices for oil and gas, which have been partly fuelled by the war in Ukraine, have delivered higher income for companies that drill for fossil fuels, while causing misery for motorists and bill payers, as domestic and road fuel prices surged past all-time highs.
“These eye-watering profits are an insult to the millions of working people struggling to get by because of soaring energy bills,” said Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress.
“Working people are facing the longest and harshest wage squeeze in modern history. It’s time working people got their fair share of the wealth they create, starting with real action to bring bills down.”
According to forecasts issued
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