Responding to today’s announcement that Centrica and Shell have posted Q2 profits of £969M and £3.9bn respectively, Heidi Chow, Executive Director of Debt Justice said:
“These obscene profits have been made at the expense of millions of UK households that have been plunged into debt and arrears because of record energy prices.”
“The UK government needs to create a ‘Help to Repay’ scheme to tackle the £2bn of energy debt weighing down households. These profits show the money is there to pay for it, we just need the political leadership to put people first.”
Notes
Record British Gas profit after energy bill change, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66315117
Debt Justice recently signed a letter calling on the government to set-up a dedicated ‘Help to Repay’ scheme to support people struggling to repay energy debt. The joint letter was co-ordinated by the Money Advice Trust with the support of 14 debt organisations and charities. Further details of the ‘Help to Repay’ policy proposal can be found at https://moneyadvicetrust.org/media/documents/Help_to_Repay_-_Energy_arrears_scheme_proposal.pdf
Debt Justice (formerly Jubilee Debt Campaign) is a campaigning organisation working to end unjust debt and the poverty and inequality it perpetuates, in the UK and across the world https://debtjustice.org.uk/