GREEDY energy giants have raked in half a trillion pounds in profits since 2020, according to new data released today.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition examined the accounts of 20 firms that produce, supply and distribute energy, and discovered that they pocketed more than £514 billion over the last five years. 

Among the top earners were oil titans Equinor and Shell, which saw their profits swell to £140bn and £91.6bn while millions of people struggled with soaring costs.

Warm This Winter spokesperson Caroline Simpson said: “It’s incomprehensible in so many ways and plain wrong that a mere 20 companies have made so much money out of people’s misery. 

“The industry can spare a few of their many billions to bring down bills, pay for energy efficient homes and switch from oil and gas to save the planet.”

Households are set to be hit by even higher bills as the Ofgem price cap rises by 6.4 per cent this week.

The average bill is expected to rise by £111 to an average of £1,849 a year.

The cost of every unit of gas has surged to over 10 per cent, making the cost of gas double what it was in winter 2020/21.

End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis commented: “As energy prices remain at levels way above the 2020 benchmark, the energy industry is taking us for April fools.

“We need politicians and regulators to act to bring down energy bills now.

“This means radical reform of the electricity pricing markets, investment in homegrown renewables and taking on the vested interests of an energy industry which makes billions of pounds of profits every year at consumers’ expense.”

Today saw the collapse of Rebel Energy, which served 80,000 customers.

While noting that customers should be protected under the Supplier of Last Resort, Mr Francis called it “another sign of the underlying failures in our energy market where the wider industry profits to the tune of billions of pounds, yet households remain at risk of having to pay the costs for failed energy suppliers.”

Maria Carvalho, from Medact which represents front-line health workers, said the record-breaking profits “come at an unbearable cost to public health.” 

She said: “Cold homes cause illness and drive patients into already overwhelmed NHS services, while energy debt traps families in a cycle of financial and mental distress.

“Every pound pocketed by these corporations is a pound that could have kept someone warm, well, and out of hospital.”

Protesters the length and breadth of the country targeted energy firm HQs and the offices of Ofgem today.

In Glasgow, Unite Community joined forces with Waspi campaigners, Extinction Rebellion and Fuel Poverty Action to deliver their message of opposition with banner drop from a building opposite Ofgem, and picketing its entrance below.

Unite’s West of Scotland Community branch chairman Keith Stoddart told the Star: “Ofgem’s charter tells us it’s there to serve the needs of consumers, yet this is the third rise in less than three years and at 6.4 per cent it’s more than the rises pensioners, disabled and those on universal credit and many workers can expect.

“It’s not just the utilities, it’s public transport costs, it’s council tax increases and food inflation.

“Rents are rising and the working class are under attack on multiple fronts, but we are resisting.

“Across our shared island, there are more than 50 Unite protests taking place and it’s not the end of a day of action, it’s the first step in convincing the Starmer gang that public ownership not just an option, it is the only way if we are to challenge the crisis of increased utility bills.”

Energy Consumers Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said the government is “sprinting for clean power, so we can bring down bills for good and give families the security they deserve.

“As we build up our homegrown power, we are doing everything we can to support people with their bills — from proposing to expand the £150 Warm Home Discount to around six million households next winter, to upgrading thousands of homes so they are warmer and cost less to heat.”