An 82-year-old widower with serious health problems is having to raid his funeral fund to keep warm this winter - while his energy supplier posts record profits and its boss looks forward to a bonus of up to £1.6million.
Barry Seckerson, a retired construction worker, says he has no choice than to use emergency savings after his gas bill more than quadrupled. Meanwhile, Centrica, the parent company of his supplier British Gas, has just revealed its annual profits have more than tripled to £3.3billion, the Mirror reports.
The huge sum - equivalent to almost £6,300 a minute or £104 a second - was fuelled by rocketing wholesale energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Centrica boss Chris O’Shea sparked further anger by refusing to rule out taking an annual bonus of up to £1.6million, twice his £800,000 salary.
Mr Seckerson, from Stoke-on-Trent, a loyal customer of British Gas for more than 50 years, says Mr O'Shea would "have a cheek" to take the bonus while people like him are suffering. He suffers from a heart condition and angina which means he has to have the heating on during cold snaps.
He said he recently rang British Gas to ask what his gas bill was from the start of December. “I gave the agent my meter reading, and she said it was £1,171,” explained Mr Seckerson, who lives alone with his pet cat after wife Brenda died 10 years ago.
“I have arthritis and angina so have to keep the heating on over Christmas. Because it was winter I was expecting it to be £400 maybe £500, but never that much.”
The £1,171 bill is almost four times the £266 bill for the previous three months, and three times what he paid for the same period last year. “I can pay this bill but I will have to use some of the money I have in savings," he said. “It is money I put aside to cover the cost of my funeral.”
Mr Seckerson said he was now dreading April, when energy bills are set to jump again after the Government scales back universal support. He branded Centrica’s profits “disgusting” and a “scandal”, and said of Mr O'Shea's possible bonus: "I don’ know he would have the cheek to take it. My bill is part of what is paying for it.”
Fife-born Mr O’Shea, who waived a £1.1million bonus a year ago, has said it is “too early to have a conversation” about the latest one. It will be revealed in Centrica’s annual report, due next month. Defending his company's bumper earnings, Mr O’Shea, 49, said: “Profits at Centrica have a purpose, and that purpose is net zero, that purpose is helping customers having lower bills going forward.”
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Most of the money it made came from Centrica’s gas production, its stake in nuclear power plants and its energy trading arms. Annual profits at British Gas Energy, its supply arm for 7.5 million households, dropped 39% to £72million. Centrica rewarded investors by announcing £723million worth of dividends and share buybacks. That was almost 10 times the £75million its parent company spent “supporting” customers last year.
The firm said it made £8 per British Gas customer after tax, and argued that investors included 500,000 small shareholders, and that the majority of dividends to institutional investors were paid directly or indirectly to UK pension funds. It also pointed to £1billion in tax it paid last year.
British Gas, which is still dealing with the fallout from revelations about debt agents working on its behalf forcing their way into the homes of vulnerable customers with a court warrant to install prepayment meters, is the latest energy giant to announce record profits. The West’s five biggest oil producers - including BP and Shell - have unveiled combined profits of £160billion in recent weeks.
Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow climate change and net zero secretary, said: “It cannot be right that, as oil and gas giants rake in the windfalls of war, Rishi Sunak's Conservatives refuse to implement a proper windfall tax that would make them pay their fair share. In a matter of weeks, the Government plans to allow the energy price cap to rise to £3,000. Labour would use a proper windfall tax to stop prices going up in April.”
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Britain’s energy market is broken. While millions of families struggle to heat their homes, firms like Centrica are raking in monster profits. It is time to bring energy retail companies into public ownership.”
Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said Centrica’s profits were “built on the backs of young families, older people and the disabled living in cold damp homes.” Tom Marsland, policy manager at disability equality charity Scope, said: “It’s obscene that energy companies continue to make massive profits as disabled people face devastating situations because they can’t afford enough energy.”
A British Gas spokesperson said: “Mr Seckerson came to the end of a fixed tariff in April 2022 and went on to a standard tariff. His prices are now capped by the Government’s Energy Price Guarantee. We will be seeing if there is any further help we can provide him with such as a grant towards his energy costs."
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