Hitting oil and gas producers with a windfall tax would be akin to "burning the furniture to stay warm", it has been claimed by a leading figure in Britain’s energy industry.
Chris O'Shea, chief executive of Centrica, said such a move would hit investment and push up costs in the long term.
He was speaking yesterday after the British Gas owner said its post-tax profits were likely to more than double to over £600million this year, as its North Sea and nuclear operations benefit from soaring gas and power prices and its traders cash in on volatility.
The update came amid continuing calls for a windfall tax on North Sea producers at a time when households including British Gas's 7million customers are struggling with record-high bills.
Mr O'Shea told The Times he was "genuinely worried that ill-informed conversation is going to lead to something that will actually reduce investment".
A windfall levy would harm consumers in the long-term while failing to raise enough cash to materially help households now, he argued.
"You've got to look and say: 'What will it do longer term? What if it does impact investment?' Prices are going to go up long-term. You have got to be careful you don't burn the furniture to stay warm. My point is you've got to think strategically."
As well as British Gas, Centrica also owns a 20% stake in Britain's existing nuclear plants and co-owns a North Sea business, Spirit Energy. Spirit is selling off Norwegian oil and gas fields, but will retain UK fields that primarily produce gas.
On the subject of a windfall tax, Mr O'Shea said: "Every investment that we would consider would be impacted.”
Investors would seek higher returns if the political, fiscal and regulatory environments were seen as riskier, he said, describing calls for a windfall levy as "lazy economics".
A windfall tax such as that as proposed by Labour would only raise about £10million from Centrica's North Sea business, he said. There was not "a big pot of money" in the North Sea and, even if a levy raised £1billion from the industry, that only equated to about £30 per household which would not "make a material difference", he said.
Mr O'Shea also said Centrica stood ready to invest up to £2billion in converting its defunct Rough gas-storage site into a hydrogen storage site, subject to the right policies, and was exploring storing carbon dioxide in the Morecambe gas fields.