Time to act on energy profits, Labour told

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The call came as polling showed nearly 60 per cent of the public believe the level of profits in the energy industry to be “unacceptable.”

In the first nine months of 2026, a handful of monopolies in the sector have posted over £8 billion in profits from Britain alone.

Simon Francis of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, which commissioned the survey from Survation, said: “It’s champagne for shareholders but cold conditions for ordinary households who are struggling through a sixth winter of high energy bills.

“Life continues to get tougher for ordinary people, driven by the surging cost of gas and politicians seem unable or unwilling to take sufficient action to keep people warm this winter.

“While the Chancellor has offered a badly targeted and insufficient £100 payment to last households through a long winter ahead, energy firms have posted £300 in UK profits per UK household in just nine months.

“The time to get off the gas and oil price rollercoaster was five years ago, but now every day we delay just makes life worse and keeps lining shareholders’ pockets.”

Jonathan Bean from Fuel Poverty Action added:  “Energy bills are already unaffordable for millions of us, and this blatant profiteering from war will cause further suffering.

“Burnham has not got a grip on the fuel poverty crisis. £100 and warm words are not going to protect people this winter.

“Urgent action is needed now to slash the vast windfall profits of energy firms and bring prices down. Warm words must turn into real support before the cold bites.”

The polling showed that 42 per cent of the public believe the level of profits made by the energy industry since 2020 have been completely unacceptable, with 17 per cent saying they are fairly unacceptable and just 18 per cent backing the profits made.

Reform and Tory-inclined voters shared the majority opinion on the issue, as did Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat supporters.

The poll also found that 67 pr cent of people were worried about paying their energy bills if prices rise again in the new year.

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