Campaigners have staged a protest outside the UK Power Networks offices criticising the company’s profits amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Trade union Unite organised the protest outside the company’s head offices in Three Bridges after it made profits of £2.4 billion over the last four years.

A survey by the union suggests that 20 per cent of the population of Crawley are in food poverty.

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: “Workers and communities are being hit hard by excessive profiteering. The behaviour of UK Power Networks is a prime example of that. The British economy is broken.

“It’s time to challenge the profiteers like UK Power Networks and end corporate greed. Workers and communities must join together to demand higher wages and freedom from fuel and food poverty.

“Unite the union is now developing its strategy to build power from the workplace to the community. Unite has established permanent bases on the ground in Crawley to work with workers within their communities to deliver an economy that works for them.”

According to Unite, 13 per cent of Crawley residents are not able to pay their household bills.

A spokeswoman for UK Power Networks said: "UK Power Networks is making significant investment to maintain reliable supplies and support the low carbon transition, and our average cost to customers is less than £100 a year in 2021/2022.

"Our costs are set to fall 7 per cent in real terms during the next five years, while earning a 5 per cent return.

"We have kept our part of the bill among the lowest in the country while achieving better than 99 per cent reliability of power supplies and 93 per cent customer satisfaction."