Helga Firth-Bernard

Well after today’s announcement from the Bank of England, there is something very, very, very wrong in the system. So … let me get this straight: * British Gas made a profit of £1.3bn between January & June * BP announced profits of £6.95 billion between April and June alone * Shell has profited by £9.4bn in a year The MEN at the top: * John Pettigrew, boss of National Grid received £6.5m bonus on top of his salary * Chris O’Shea, chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica was paid almost £2m last year in salary and benefits * Centrica's non-executive directors were paid almost £1m * Scottish Power's CEO Keith Anderson is on £1.15m. * E.On boss Michael Lewis is on £1m * EDF's Simone Rossi is also on £1m * And their top execs enjoyed a share of £4.65m * Peter Simpson of Anglian Water earned a £1.3m pay package * Welsh Water bosses awarded themselves bonuses of over £930,000 * Severn Trent bosses awarded themselves bonuses of £5.56m * Thames Water's Sarah Bentley, received a £727,000 bonus on top of her £2m annual salary Meanwhile there are... * People who haven't had breakfast and/or lunch TODAY, because they can't afford it. * People using FoodBanks because food is becoming more of a luxury than a necessity. * Children celebrating a birthday without presents. * Parents worrying about new school uniforms - and some schools enforcing rules which are not cost-effective. * People who can't get to work because they can't afford to put petrol in their cars/pay for public transport anymore. * People who are working so much they're making themselves ill, and they STILL CAN'T AFFORD to pay their bills. * People who have been given fines by these same energy/water companies because they couldn't afford to pay their bills in the first place - increasing their debt. * Customers being told to do STAR JUMPS TO KEEP WARM for crying out loud! * Hose pipe bans when gallons of water leak away everyday. * Elderly people NOT DRINKING because they're worried about running out of water!!! All this and energy prices are set to rise up to 75% in October... THIS IS MADNESS!.. I'm all for supporting profits … I'm not for supporting greed at the cost of lives of others. Something needs to change. Why is customers' money being used to make life more comfortable for those who are making life more intolerable for the rest of us? I actually don't understand how the energy companies are allowed to get away with this and why the government aren't stopping them instead of handing out money.....