Fuel Poverty Action - Windfall tax debate: these excess profits didn’t fall from a tree.

 Together, BP and Shell made almost £24 billion in profit last year. In just the first three months of 2022, they made more than £11 billion.  North Sea oil and gas bosses got a combined £25m pay rise in 2021.

 

FPA’s co-founder Ruth London comments:

 

“These massive excess profits are not earned. Nobody worked for them. Nobody took a risk for them. And they didn't fall from a tree like a windfall apple.

 

They come from our bills, and from the pennies customers are forced to put aside to top up prepayment meters, while children go hungry.

 

And they go into the pockets of private individuals who are often obscenely rich to begin with. Or they get invested in extracting more and more of the oil and gas that are wrecking the climate we all depend on, while renewable energy would cost only a quarter as much, and while the government could invest in insulated homes so we don't need so much energy in the first place.  

 

A windfall tax should take every penny of the extra money that these huge international corporations have been able to demand just because the market changed and they could get away with higher prices.  

 

The energy market is upside down, with the poorest customers paying the most.”

 

Fuel Poverty Action's proposal for Energy For All [1] would turn energy pricing on its head, providing a free band of energy to ensure that every household can keep warm and keep the lights on. It would be paid for by a windfall tax, an end to fossil fuel subsidies, and a higher price on wasteful use of energy by wealthy consumers who can well afford to pay more."

 

[1] Petition on change.org has over 400,000 signatures: https://www.change.org/p/energyforall-everyone-has-a-right-to-the-energy-needed-for-heating-cooking-and-light