Nationalise and bring down our bills

Richard Stallard, Plymouth Socialist Party

Andy Burnham’s first major announcement as prime minister was to cut VAT on household electricity. He has spun it as a lifeline for struggling families. We are told this measure will save the average household roughly £45 a year. But for working-class people staring down the barrel of another brutal winter, this saving is just a drop in the ocean. After years of price hikes that have seen energy bills skyrocket, knocking less than a pound a week off our direct debits is frankly insulting. It barely scratches the surface of the Ofgem price cap increases we’ve already endured, let alone the further rises predicted this autumn and winter. Burnham’s tax cut does nothing to address the root cause of the crisis: the profit-driven energy industry. Private energy bosses and shareholders continue to rake in billions in unearned dividends. As long as basic utilities are treated as cash cows by the wealthy, our bills will keep going up and the vital investment we need will be wanting.

If Burnham’s government actually wanted to slash bills and protect workers, it would take the energy companies, both the producers and suppliers, into democratic public ownership. By nationalising the energy sector, we could immediately strip out the profit motive and lower tariffs to reflect the true cost of supply. Furthermore, socialist public ownership is the only mechanism that can guarantee a massive, coordinated investment in green renewables, ensuring a just transition without forcing the working class to foot the bill.