While the Big Six’s profits from us increased fivefold from 2009-2013, one in four people struggle to pay their extortionate fuel bills
Yesterday a new report once again made it abundantly clear that the corporate-controlled energy system is a catastrophe for the UK. The report by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) shows that the Big Six energy companies are charging their most loyal customers up to £234 extra a year.
As usual the people hardest hit by this are also the people most vulnerable in cold winters: pensioners, disabled people, single parent families, and people on low incomes.
The energy market has failed. And it has failed the hardest for the people who need energy the most. Yet Ofgem, the government regulator of the energy utilities, sees no other solution to the problem than providing even more market.
In Ofgem’s logic the problem is the Big Six’s virtual monopoly on energy provision. Therefore splitting up the big energy companies into smaller entities would be the only change necessary to right the wrongs of privatised energy.
It doesn’t take more than a quick look at the current situation for millions of people in the UK to see that splitting up the Big Six doesn’t even begin to address the problems of the current energy system. While the Big Six’s profits from us increased fivefold from 2009-2013, one in four people struggle to pay their extortionate fuel bills.
In the past few years fuel bills have risen eight times faster than our wages and Which? have calculated that our bills were £145 too high last year because energy companies failed to pass on savings from falling wholesale energy prices to consumers. That’s just the financial tip of the iceberg of problems with our energy system.
Every year thousands of people die in cold homes because they are unable to afford adequate heating. And it is estimated that more than one in five of us has had to make the difficult choice between heating and eating this winter.
Break up the system, not just the Big Six
The corporate-controlled energy system has not just made us all worse off by increasing our energy bills in general; it has also constructed a system where the poorest consumers subsidise the bills of the richest. People on prepayment meters pay more for their energy and people in debt pay more again.
Every day the Big Six break into people’s homes across the country to impose more prepayment meters and more than four million people are already in debt to their energy provider.
Yes, maybe splitting up the Big Six could provide some benefits for some of the richer part of the population who’re paying their bills via direct debit. But people forced onto prepayment meters and people indebted by energy bills and unable to change providers have nothing to win from this exercise.
Splitting up the big energy companies is not going to provide any support for the people who really need it – or even stop the exploitation of some of the most vulnerable groups in our society. Yesterday’s report from the CMA is just another proof that the ‘free’ market is not bringing down our bills, but instead contributing to more inequality and fuel poverty.
For everyone who wants a more equal society and for everyone that wants to see an end to fuel poverty, the only solution is an end to the corporate-controlled profit-driven energy system.
Taking back power
The solutions to our energy problems are already being created here in the UK and across the world. Instead of looking to big business for solutions, we should look to Germany where the people of Hamburg are taking back control of their energy. We should look to Indonesia and Costa Rica where rural energy coops are providing green, affordable energy and jobs to local communities.
If we want to create an energy system where everyone can access the energy they need and where energy does not destroy our climate, we must take back power from big corporations. More than two thirds of people in the UK want to bring back energy under public control. If our ‘representatives’in Westminster cannot see the need for real change of our energy system, we need to show them the way.
Join the fight for a democratic energy system at www.fuelpovertyaction.org.uk.
Morten Thaysen is part of Fuel Poverty Action and Reclaim the Power. He also works for Global Justice Now.
49 Responses to “Privatised energy has failed – we need to take back the power”
Kevin Stall
If they don’t provide you with services, I.e. power, what happens? Maggie and privatization.
Kevin Stall
Have you priced the batteries and the life costs? I have heard that some of these batteries need to be replaced yearly. They have a short life if regularly used.
Kevin Stall
We are just one state within the EU negation. We can not change the tax laws that allow this.
Kevin Stall
Yet the real rich are not confined by borders. Look at the Facebook partner who gave up American citizenship to avoid paying us taxes. They tax you no matter where you live and where you make the income. And before you start thinking that is a good idea, they also must maintain a massive police force with accountants to maintain it. And few people pay all the owe.
Hugh Small
I just checked the Tesla car site and they say a replacement 85 kwh battery is $12,000 if you’ve had one for 8 years. That’s about £80 per kwh (say £1000 for 1 day’s home electricity in UK), but it’s a very cunning marketing proposition when you think about it. It easily beats the 2012 McKinsey forecast of price decline. It seems the Tesla battery is just a skipload of laptop batteries packed in fire-resistant goo. There is a Bosch home system that’s posher. Home batteries need less acceleration/structural strength/lightness and it’s clear that the market for home energy is so enticing given the current high price of grid baseload that a lot of development is going on. Google and Apple are involved. Lifetime of batteries responds to careful charging management.