Renationalisation of Energy

The_Green_Hornet

I spend far more on my groceries than I do on my gas & electric, and to my knowledge I have never heard anyone clamouring to nationalise the supermarkets so maybe the problem isn't the particular political ideology used to operate the UK energy market, but its regulation.

The state has failed to run an adequate health and education service for decades, Why does anyone think they would be any better at running the railways, energy or water, bearing in mind that you don't always get the political party in government that you think you deserve?

System

When this was mooted in 2014/15, it was estimated that a re-nationalised energy sector would save us £4.2Bn a year on our energy bills.

The bad news is that the estimated cost of re-nationalisation is c.£185Bn.

It follows that we might break even by .....

I fear that this particular ship has sailed unless the Government is minded just to send in the troops.

SammenForLivet2

C_Mababejive wrote: »

As per #10 many of our utilities are now foregin owned via investment houses. They love our utilities because they can extract a good return via regulated income that YOU the customer is paying,they extract the value, load them up with debt, asset strip them then sell them on when they have no further use for them.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3611509/Australian-bank-selling-share-Thames-Water-rinsed-firm-millions-saddled-debts-dodged-tax-created-250m-pensions-black-hole.html

We blame 'foreign' owned investment houses all we like, but the sad fact is most of the utilities, were setup as independent UK operated and owned P.L.C's and most small investors were more than happy to pocket the generous short-term returns foreign firms offered for shares.

If you want to look at renationalisation examples in utilities, look at Dwr Cymru Welsh Water. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather rail than utilities be nationalized. Perhaps, CO-Operatively owned energy is more of the better way forward than nationalization.

Robisere

No one can seriously contemplate renationalising any large British industry today. Only Corbyn and his cronies would take us down that path. The cost, and the effects upon the UK economy would bring about a very severe depression.

Anyone thinking that the country's utility companies are all foreign-owned, should look at British Gas, whose parent company is Centrica. For some reason, many people believe this is American-owned. It is not: it is a British-owned multinational, with headquarters in Windsor. It has extensive interests in the US energy market, but those too are British.

However, what really bothers me, and should bother everyone in this country, is the extent to which UK utilities are owned by foreign States: -

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/revealed-how-the-world-gets-rich-from-privatising-british-public-services-9874048.html

No UK state body can do this, but other foreign governments can buy pieces of our utility and rail infrastructure and make profits from them, to the benefit of their GDP.

System

Puts on Kevlar helmet and body armour.....

Blame the EU. The Government is banned from bidding for rail franchises under EU state aid rules.

That said, the difference in cost between renationalising rail compared to energy is huge. If a Government could muster enough patience, which I doubt, there would be no cost at all provided all franchises were allowed to run their full course.

Whether it makes any sense - given that 97p in every £1 stays within the sector - is doubtful imho.