power companies profits

From The Independent

Before the general election, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats repeatedly criticised Labour for failing to tackle prices charged by the Big Six suppliers. Both the opposition parties demanded an inquiry by the Competition Commission. The Coalition Government has shelved plans for an independent inquiry into the £25bn-a-year energy industry amid accusations of profiteering on electricity and gas. The Department of Energy and Climate Change confirmed last night that it has no plans to refer the industry to the Competition Commission. Meanwhile, profits have surged at the Big Six – British Gas, EDF, Eon, Npower, Scottish & Southern and Scottish Power – and the firms are accused of failing to pass on significant falls in wholesale prices. Scottish & Southern revealed in July that full-year operating profits at its supply and generation arm, of which its UK residential business is a small part, rose by £64m to £896m, up 8 per cent. In July, British Gas, whose residential supply forms the main part of its business, reported operating profits in the first half of 2010 of £585m, up 98 per cent.

Figures released in December showed that during the cold winter of 2008/09, “excess winter mortality” jumped by 49 per cent to 36,700, sending an extra 10,000 pensioners to early graves.

Homes in fuel poverty – defined as spending 10 per cent or more of their income on fuel – have trebled in five years to around 6.6 million.