The Archbishop of Canterbury has criticised energy companies for imposing huge price rises that will hammer struggling families.
Justin Welby said power giants had a ”˜massive’ moral duty beyond squeezing customers for maximum profit, and challenged the firms to justify their huge increases in bills.
The Archbishop, himself a former oil executive, said he understood the anger over apparently ”˜inexplicable’ rises and called on the companies ”˜to behave with generosity and not merely to maximise opportunity’.
Apparantly the +++ABC has as much trouble interpreting a balance sheet as he sometimes seems to have with Scripture.
He upbraids Centrica for their “2.7bn” profit. That is a verbal slight of hand that the +++ABC should avoid using. Centrica’s true profite AFTER TAXES was 1.3bn. Which means that the English Government faired better from Centrica’s operations than Centrica did.
As an ex-oil company executive, the +++ABC knows full well that Centrica needs a healthy flow of profits to support exploration and development in the oil industry. No profit means no supply of energy.
I am sure Centrica could lower its energy prices if the British Government would lower the confiscatory tax rates pressed against the energy firm.
And I’ll bet if someone digs down into the +++ABC’s retirement account, there are investments in Centrica that benefit from its healthy share earnings and valuation.
But at the end of the day, what will harm all Britons the most, is if there is not sufficient energy to meet the country’s needs.
Centrica’s financial report is here: https://www.centrica.com/files/reports/2012ar/files/pdf/centrica_annual_report_2012.pdf