The boss of one of the world’s largest energy companies has warned that high energy prices could stay for many years and customers should not expect them to return back to where they were before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Anders Opedal, Chief Executive of Norway’s state energy giant Equinor told the BBC that windfall taxes and the increased investment needed to move away from fossil fuels are the main factors for keeping prices at a high level.

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Mr Opedal said: “We have seen a rewiring of the whole energy system in Europe after the gas from Russia was taken away.

“We need massively more renewables. We need to do the industry in a totally different way, maybe using more hydrogen. This will require a lot of investments and these investments need to be paid for. I would assume energy bills will be slightly higher than in the past but not as volatile and high as we have today.”

Yesterday, Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, told MPs on the Commons Treasury Committee that there could be a “rapid” fall in inflation in Britain as energy prices continue to drop in recent weeks.