UNITE rejected backing for a social energy tariff by British Gas’s owners today, saying the only way to stop rip-off profiteering is public ownership.

Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea said that a special tariff for the worst off would be “the best thing we can do for consumers” after the energy supplies revealed a big jump in profit.

Its retail arm, which is mainly made up of British Gas, saw profit soar from £94 million in 2022 to £799m last year.

All of this profit came from the first half of the year and mostly due to the way the energy price cap works.

Mr O’Shea said the poor in society are “really struggling” and “that’s why we need a social tariff, that’s why we need the standing charge to disappear.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “British Gas owner Centrica is still raking in astonishingly high profits off the back of exorbitant energy bills that are nearly double what they were three years ago.

“There is no point beating around the bush: The only way to stop households and businesses being ripped off by the profiteers in our energy supply chain is public ownership.”

Warm This Winter spokeswoman Fiona Waters added: “British Gas’s obscene profits just epitomise rip-off Britain where bosses are paid millions each year at the expense of ordinary people, millions of whom are living in cold, damp homes because they simply cannot afford to pay their huge energy bills.”

End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “These huge profits are one of the reasons households have had to cut back so much on their spending, sending Britain crashing into a recession.”