UK finance minister Sunak orders plan for windfall tax on electricity generators -FT

Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak arrives to speak at the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) annual dinner in London, Britain, May 18, 2022. Peter Nicholls/REUTERS

May 23 (Reuters) – Britain’s finance minister Rishi Sunak has ordered officials to draw up plans for a possible windfall tax on more than 10 billion pounds ($12.58 billion) of excess profits by electricity generators, including wind farm operators, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Treasury officials are working on a scheme that would go well beyond Labour’s original windfall tax plan, the report said.

Asked to comment, a Treasury spokesperson did not specifically respond to the article.

Sunak and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urgently want to set out measures to address rising energy bills and how to pay for them, FT said, citing unidentified officials, adding that an announcement could come this week or after the Jubilee bank holiday in early June.

Sunak said last week that if energy companies didn’t reinvest profits back into jobs, growth and energy security then no option is off the table when it comes to the possibility of introducing windfall taxes. read more

($1 = 0.7947 pounds)

Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu, additional reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

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