BP profits could fuel every household in North East Lincolnshire for 125 years

File photo dated 10/03/2022 of a BP sign. The size of the pile of cash that BP made last year will be made bare on Tuesday, opening the company up to the same criticism that hit its rival Shell this week. Boss Bernard Looney is expected to reveal what could be the highest profit in BP's history, after the company benefited from the fossil fuel crisis that has characterised so much of the past year. Issue date: Sunday February 5, 2023.

BP could fuel every household in North East Lincolnshire for 125 years after the energy giant announced record profits, figures suggest.

The oil company logged record post-tax profits of $27.7 billion (£23 billion) last year, more than double its 2021 earnings and outstripping the previous record of around $26 billion (£21.6 billion) in 2008.

The figures come in the wake of Shell also announcing record profits of almost $40 million (£33.2 million), with opposition parties and campaign groups urging the Government to act while the general public faces a cost-of-living crisis.

Labour shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband has called for a "proper windfall tax", which would raise money to help people with their bills.

To see just how far BP's profits would go, we worked out how many years the energy giant could fuel every home in your area.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy figures show households in North East Lincolnshire consumed a total of 858 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of gas and 233 GWh of electricity in 2021.

At the current charging rates capped by the Government with the Energy Price Guarantee, the approximate total cost of fuelling every home in North East Lincolnshire in 2021 was £185 million.

It means BP would be able to pay the bill of every household in the area for around 125 years.

Mr Miliband said: "What is so outrageous is that as fossil fuel companies rake in these enormous sums, Rishi Sunak still refuses to bring in a proper windfall tax that would make them pay their fair share.

"In just eight weeks’ time, the Government plans to allow the energy price cap to rise to £3,000. Labour would use a proper windfall tax to stop prices going up in April."