Friday newspaper round-up: Energy bills, John Lewis, EDF, HSBC

Ministers have been warned that energy bills will cost more than two month’s wages next year unless new help is given to households, as the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, told firms they must invest their “extraordinary” profits or face the threat of further taxation. The TUC ramped up calls for the government to cancel the October energy price cap rise, saying the cost of living crisis this winter was an “emergency of pandemic scale”. – Guardian

John Lewis is to retire its 97-year-old price pledge “never knowingly undersold” on 22 August but has yet to reveal a catchy new slogan to take its place. The department store chain told customers in an email it will not accept new claims under the pledge from 23 August, instead promising them – rather long-windedly – it is “always knowingly committed to outstanding value”. – Guardian

EDF energy customers in Britain are paying almost two-and-a-half times as much as their counterparts in France after Emmanuel Macron imposed strict caps on price rises. EDF customers in Britain have had their bills capped at £1,971 by energy regulator Ofgem, while French customers on regulated tariffs face bills of around €950 (£803). – Telegraph

The Chinese group that wants to break up HSBC has escalated its campaign against the bank by claiming its plan would unlock as much as $35 billion in value and dismissing the lender’s warnings about the dangers of a split. Ping An, the insurer that is HSBC’s biggest shareholder with a 9 per cent stake, has urged the FTSE 100 lender to spin off its Asian business into a separate company listed in Hong Kong. Bosses at the bank have rejected the idea, but a source close to Ping An said yesterday that HSBC had exaggerated the risks posed by a break-up. – The Times

Sam Laidlaw, the former Centrica boss and founder of Neptune Energy, has warned that the windfall tax could limit the oil and gas explorer’s long-term investment in Britain. The new tax regime “increased uncertainty” and would lead to companies such as Neptune “favouring” projects in countries where energy policies “support a stable and predictable investment climate to encourage new investment”, he said. – The Times