OIL giant BP revealed obscene profits today while skyrocketing bills are forcing households to risk their own health by cutting energy use.

The British transnational announced underlying profits of £1.7 billion from July to September.

Izzie McIntosh, climate campaigner at Global Justice Now, said: “The fossil fuel industry’s profiteering is only made possible through the destruction of the climate, felt most starkly by countries in the global South. 

“If this government wants to be taken seriously by the global South and work effectively for a fair end to the climate crisis, it will tax these shameless profiteers to help fund global climate action.”

According to Warm This Winter, BP has pocketed £44.5bn since the start of the energy crisis.

Campaign spokeswoman Caroline Simpson said: “That’s why we urge the Chancellor [Rachel Reeves] in her Budget tomorrow to get tough on profiteers who have made billions milking energy shocks that have left 6.5 million in fuel poverty by clawing back some of that ill-gotten gain to fund a social tariff.”

Researchers called on the government today to introduce a  £10-a-day cold-weather payment for when temperatures plummet.

In a new study, academics from University College London, Oxford and Cambridge universities found that households in fuel poverty used significantly less energy than other households during bitter weather.

Gas usage was 21 per cent lower, and electricity 11 per cent lower.

Jason Palmer, from Cambridge Architectural Research and UCL, warned: “This puts their health, and ultimately their lives, at risk.”

Currently, cold weather payments of £25 are made to eligible households after a week of below-freezing weather, but they cover less than half the extra cost of keeping warm during a cold snap.

Researchers have recommended replacing it with an extreme weather payment that credits the energy account of all eligible households with a tenner each time the Met Office declares that the temperature will fall below -4°C the following day.

Dr Tina Fawcett of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University said: “This simple change, which will not be expensive, will help households stay warm when it really matters.”