OREANDA-NEWS  Boris Johnson has warned energy companies that sky-high bills will damage their business, at a round table with the electricity sector where the chancellor of the exchequer cautioned that “extraordinary profits” were being evaluated.

Nadhim Zahawi met the providers along with the prime minister and the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, amid tensions in government over the future of further windfall taxation.

Zahawi has said that energy companies who attended a meeting with him and Johnson on Thursday agreed to “do more to help the people who most need it” – but did not detail what that would entail.

Those attending the meeting included Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of the British Gas owner, Centrica, Keith Anderson, the chief executive of Scottish Power, and Simone Rossi, the boss of EDF in the UK.

The Treasury said all the ministers stressed the need to find new ways to help vulnerable customers. The crunch talks came with new predictions that Ofgem could raise the price cap to ?5,038 in April – more than ?200 above previous estimates – according to the energy consultancy Auxilione.

A Treasury spokesperson said energy bosses were told that the market was “not always functioning for consumers, and extraordinarily high bills will ultimately damage energy companies”.

In a hint that ministers had not ruled out further taxation, Zahawi said the government “continues to evaluate the extraordinary profits seen in certain parts of the electricity generation sector and the appropriate and proportionate steps to take”.

Liz Truss, the frontrunner to be the next prime minister, has made it clear she is not in favour of further taxation, arguing that it discourages investment.

In a statement after the meeting, Johnson said it would be “a difficult winter for people across the UK” and said the government “will keep urging the electricity sector to continue working on ways we can ease the cost of living pressures and to invest further and faster in British energy security”.