Take The Power Back campaign

Join the 'Future of Utilities Summit' demo

Tuesday 20 June 2023, 14:00
Business Design Centre, Islington, N1 0QH

Stop the rip off - renationalise energy

This utilities conference is for senior energy and water executives. Delegates will hear from a range of speakers from key energy profiteers. Unite for a Workers’ Economy will be there to highlight excessive profiteering by these energy companies. Join us to demand change #TakeThePowerBack

• Download, print and share the flyer
• Check out the Facebook event

“Public, democratic control makes energy affordable while sustaining decent work. The question is no longer can we afford to nationalise, it is how long can we afford not to?

It’s time to pull the plug on the energy profiteers. This report shows how it can be done.”
Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary

Household energy bills have hit record levels. While millions of energy consumers struggle to pay astronomical bills, recent investigations commissioned by Unite's Sharon Graham have revealed the whole energy sector is making eye watering excess profits.

The Unite profiteering report revealed that:

• The “Big 4” energy providers (Centrica, E.ON, EDF and Scottish Power) made combined £9.5 billion in profit in 2021, up 84% on 2019
• Electricity and gas distributors made a combined £6.3 billion in 2021
• UK generators have already made more than £10 billion in “excess profits” due to spiking electricity prices
• The Treasury currently forecasts that UK gas producers and electricity generators could make “excess” profits of up to £170 billion in the next two years.

This profiteering comes at a huge cost to workers and our communities. In Renationalising energy: costs and savings Unite maps out the UK energy network and the companies that own it to reveal:

• Public ownership could have saved us all nearly £45 billion in 2022 – over £1,800 per household.
• Public ownership of the UK’s energy supply could cost £90.3 billion, equal to two years of profits at the 2022 level.
• Household energy bills have been one of the biggest contributors to high inflation. The ability to freeze those bills would have meant that inflation was at least 4.1% lower.

With statistics like these, it’s clear the economy isn’t working for workers and only benefits the extraordinarily rich and shareholders.

Continuing to leave this critical infrastructure in the hands of profiteers comes at a high cost, but it does not need to be like this. The picture could look very different if the UK had an energy system which functioned to meet our needs, not prioritise profiteering.

Workington residents have their say on the energy crisis

Unite for a Workers’ Economy has also found that residents of Workington have had enough of rip-off energy prices and called for every political candidate standing in the area in the next general election to pledge to support the return of energy to democratic public ownership. The demands are growing.

Watch the video and hear what Workington residents have to say about the energy crisis.

Building a campaign for public ownership in Grimsby

Grimsby has been hit especially hard by #Greedflation – the soaring food and energy costs caused by profiteering corporations. Unite polling carried out by Survation found the town fared worse than the rest of the region, and one in ten Grimsby residents can’t afford to pay their household bills.

Over the next few weeks, Unite for a Workers’ Economy will be on the street in Grimsby building our campaign to #TakeThePowerBack. If you live in Grimsby, fill in our online survey and show your support for the campaign by putting up a poster in your window. 

Take the power back into public ownership

Unite reps from the Energy National Industrial Sector Committee (NISC) have tabled a motion on the nationalisation of energy to be heard at Unite's policy conference in July. If the demand for nationalisation is agreed by Unite members delegated to conference, it would give Unite for a Workers’ Economy the green light to push this campaign to every corner of the UK.

In the meantime, if you’d like to get involved:

• Scan the QR code on the attached flyer & complete our energy survey.
• Print the attached poster and pose for a selfie, share on social media, tag us in and use the hashtag #takethepowerback
• Display the poster in your window
• And remember, when any and every candidate comes to your door canvassing for your support in the next general election – ask them, Will you pledge to #takethepowerback ?

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