Profits recorded by a leading energy firm are “grotesque” while people struggle with bills, a Glasgow MP has said.

British Gas posted a whopping increase of almost 900% in profits.

The energy giant said earnings rose by 889% to £969 million in the six months to June 30 from £98 million a year earlier.

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It said the reason Ofgem's price cap in the first half of the year, when customers saw their bills limited to £2,500 a year under the Energy Price Guarantee, allowed it to recoup losses seen a year earlier to the tune of about £500 million.

Ann McLaughlin, Glasgow North East SNP MP, has been campaigning against the use of prepayment meters by energy firms, said hard-pressed households are funding the massive rise.

Glasgow Times:

She said: “I am enraged to see these vast profits being defended by British Gas and Ofgem. 

“How can they possibly defend a 900% rise in profits whilst most households are struggling to pay their energy bills or living with no energy at all in the cold and dark? 

“I was one of the first to congratulate British Gas for taking steps to help customers during the energy crisis, but the £100 million they have spent in supporting customers now seems fairly insignificant in light of these grotesque profits.

She said the price cap was “deliberately increased” by around £100 per household in the first half of the year to give energy firms extra profit to compensate them for missing out on some profits whilst prices were rising,

She added: “Which means we can estimate that around £500 million pounds of this vast profit has been funded by billpayers and taxpayers. 

“We are too concerned with big business and shareholders missing out on profit and not concerned enough with the harsh reality of austerity enforced poverty.”

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Campaigners also said the profits were hard to take for the public.

Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: "These profits are a further sign of Britain's broken energy system.

"At a time when household energy debt is spiralling to record levels and energy bills remain double what they were just a few years ago, the profits posted will be greeted with disbelief by those struggling through the crisis.

"There will of course be questions about how these profits were made, but the reality is that energy firms are operating on a playing field set by the Government."