£13M A YEAR ENERGY FATCATS

Bosses rake in cash £6m goes to 5 chiefs

FATCAT energy firm bosses raked in almost £13million a year while customers face devastating bill rises.

The cash was pocketed by top brass such as executives and directors at the giants – with £6million of it going to just five big chiefs.

Millions face being dragged down into fuel poverty from April when typical energy bills will rocket by up to £693, to £1,971 a year.

Yet Britain’s biggest energy firms still raked in £3billion of profit in 2020 – with their bosses listed among the UK’S top earners.

And today, the Sunday People reveals the huge pay and perks they hand out, which a union has branded “repugnant bandit capitalism”.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has offered customers £200 off their bills from October in a buy-now-pay-later-style loan. But the scheme has been attacked for failing to target those most in need. High bills for customers will last at least two years Chris O’shea, chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica, warned last month.

He is among five execs paid almost £2m last year, taking home £765,000 in pay and benefits. The average fulltime weekly wage in the UK is £611.

Centrica’s most recent accounts showed operating profits of £699m and at least four board members are multi-millionaires. Its non-executive directors were paid almost £1m.

Porridge

SSE, which recorded profits of £1.5bn in 2020, gave £2.41m to its chief Alistair Phillips-davies. It paid its directors almost £5.2m in 2020.

The OVO Energy-owned company was slammed last month for advising customers to keep their heating bills low by cuddling pets, eating porridge and “doing a few star jumps”.

Analysis of E.ON, EDF and Scottish Power’s most recent accounts showed they paid their top brass £4.65m between them. E.ON, which had to apologise for sending socks to customers branded with advice to turn down heating, made £198m in profits in 2020. Chief executive Michael Lewis was rewarded with an estimated £1m.

EDF boss Simone Rossi earned a similar amount, despite the Frenchowned company recording a £345m loss in the UK.

And Scottish Power paid £1.65m to three directors, with chief Keith Anderson believed to be on £1.15m and a £140,000 pension benefit.

Npower – one of the “Big Six” energy firms until it was taken over by E.ON – handed £2.7m to its directors in 2020, company accounts show.

Critics want a windfall tax on the energy giants, plus oil and gas producers whose annual profits have quadrupled as barrel prices rocket.

Shell’s earnings quadrupled to £14.26bn for the year. BP is expected to next week report bumper annual profits of almost £9.6bn.

Its chief executive Bernard Looney described BP in November as “a cash machine at these types of prices”.

GMB union national secretary Andy