Energy firm SSE was accused of feigning poverty to head off a political clampdown as it announced a £370 million six-month profit yesterday - but claimed it lost money supplying customers.

Months before the general election in which Labour has made a cap on bills a key pledge, the massive generator, distributor and supplier group claimed its supply wing had racked up a £16.9m deficit in the first half of the tax year.

Wholesale profits, another part of energy firms' accounts under political scrutiny following claims of a crafty profiteering scam, dropped by 83.4 per cent from £160.4m to £26.7m.

But it recorded a leap in its distribution and transmission wings, which raked in £458.4m.

Campaign for Public Ownership spokesman Neil Clark warned that the apparent drop in the two areas targeted for political criticism was designed to "wrongfoot people who are purely pushing on that basis.

"These companies are very good at being able to move things around their various divisions," he said.

"That is why the case for public ownership is much stronger than the case for price freezes."

SSE claimed yesterday to back lower bills for its customers but complained that Labour's plan to cap prices was "socially regressive."

Instead it suggested that it could pass on "savings for consumers worth around £100" but only if the government reduced the tax burden on energy firms.

Mr Clark predicted that it would be only the first of many energy profiteers to plead poverty "all of a sudden."