Fat cats pocket £12m as bills soar
UNIONS have slammed a culture of “bandit capitalism” after energy firm fat cats raked in £12million in a year.
CEOs and directors received vast sums, ahead of annual fuel bills being set to rocket by £700 from April.
Chris O’Shea, boss of British Gas owner Centrica, has warned high bills will last for at least two years.
Yet he was one of five at his company to share almost £2m last year – taking home £765,000 in pay and benefits.
SSE, which had profits of £1.5billion in 2020, handed £2.41m to its chief Alistair Phillips-Davies with a similar amount shared by two other directors.
The OVO Energy-owned firm last month told customers to do “a few star jumps” to keep warm.
E.On, EDF, and Scottish Power paid executives £4.6m between them, their most recent accounts show. Critics have called for a windfall tax.
Andy Prendergast, GMB union chief, said yesterday: “Energy bosses are trousering eye-watering sums while bumping up bills so much working people have to choose between eating and heating. It’s bandit capitalism and it’s repugnant. Until we fix the UK’s broken energy policy, tens of millions will suffer – while these fat cats get the cream.”
Industry body Energy UK said it was “very concerned for customers with high prices likely
to remain for some time”.