British Gas owner Centrica has revealed its profits soared by just under 900% to £969m in the first six months of 2023.

Largely thanks to changes made to the energy price cap the energy giant’s profits boomed from £98m the year earlier, representing British Gas’s highest ever first-half profits.

BG is not alone with French owned EDF Energy and Scottish Power recording windfalls courtesy of regulator Ofgem’s controversial decision to allow energy suppliers to claim greater profits from hard-hit customers.

However according to the firm the eye-watering profits are not the product of higher energy prices but a reduction in debt-related costs described as “a one-off”.

Shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband said the profits showed ministers “failure to act on the windfalls of war being pocketed by the oil and gas  companies”.

Simon Francis, a coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, called the profits “a further sign of Britain’s broken energy system”.

“At a time when household energy debt is spiralling to record levels and energy bills remain double what they were just a few years ago, the profits posted will be greeted with disbelief by those struggling through the crisis.”