Energy boss Linda Cook is looking forward to a £770,000 payday in October, when 24 million households will be hammered by a huge hike in gas and electricity bills.
Ms Cook, CEO of North Sea oil and gas producer Harbour Energy, made almost £6million in pay and perks last year. The £770,000 adds to a similar sum she was entitled to in May.
The 64-year-old American is benefitting from an £84m interim dividend announced by Harbour Energy today as its profits rose 1,100% to almost £1.3billion in the first half of 2022.
In the same period, British gas owner Centrica made £1.3bn, BP, £12bn, and Shell, £17bn, making a grand total of £31bn for their combined half-year profits.
Meanwhile, campaigners warn the hike in bills set for October will push the number of UK households in fuel poverty from 6.5 million to 8.5 million.
Regulator Ofgem will today confirm the scale of the price cap increase, but analysts predict it will rise by 80% to more than £3,500 a year for those on standard or other default tariffs.
Labour has called on the Tories to back an expansion of the windfall tax on oil and gas companies to help fund an immediate freeze in energy bills this winter.
Tessa Khan, an international climate change lawyer and founder of the group Uplift, said: “It is frankly obscene that Cook is raking in dividends on top of her multi-million-pound salary when millions of people across the UK are desperately trying to figure out how they’re going to heat their homes and feed their families this winter because of soaring gas prices.
“They are happy to keep us hooked on unaffordable gas that’s making the company and shareholders billions.”
Research by the Unite union found other firms in sector, energy suppliers, distributors and generators, have made £15.8billion in profits in the last year. Unite claims at least 30% of the expected Ofgem price cap increase is made up of profit for energy giants.
General secretary Sharon Graham said: “People will be flabbergasted when the new energy cap is announced. But what Unite has established in our new research is that rampant corporate profiteering is at the very heart of soaring energy bills and Ofgem’s soaring price cap.”
Ms Cook once had a summer job at a petrol station, but went on to be a top Shell executive. She worked in private equity before taking over as CEO of Harbour Energy last year.
Ms Cook argued against then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak ’s windfall tax on energy producers. She said: “A higher tax burden will make it more challenging for new oil and gas projects to meet investment hurdle rates, meaning fewer projects will be sanctioned.”
A spokesman for Harbour Energy, whose head office is in London, said the reason for the jump in profit was because of increased production and a merger last year. While benefiting from higher wholesale gas prices, Harbour made less than it could have because of the price of contracts it entered into, he said.
Harbour Energy expected to pay around £250m under the windfall levy and was investing heavily in new sources of gas to ensure the UK had to buy less from abroad.
Despite what many fear is a looming “catastrophe” due to the price cap hikes, the Government has no new measures to help.
Pressure is growing to freeze bills, possibly through a £100billion loan scheme. But everything is on hold until the Tories choose Liz Truss or Mr Sunak as their new leader.
Adam Scorer, chief executive at National Energy Action, said: “The scale of harm caused by these price rises needs to sink in. A warm home this winter will be a pipe dream for millions as they are priced out of a decent and healthy quality of life.”
Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Every day our advisers help people in desperate situations – people who can’t get to the end of the month without a food bank voucher, parents unable to afford nappies and patients with no credit to call their GP.
‘‘Without more support, the soundtrack to winter will be the beep of emergency prepayment meter credit running out and the click of lights and appliances turned off.”
