Nationalize energy companies and reduce energy cap to 2021 level, Greens say

The 'Big Five' energy companies should be implemented public ownership and energy prices back to last year's levels, the Green Party said.

Greens co-leader Carla Denyer said plans to freeze the Labor's proposed price cap did not go far enough as bills were "already unaffordable" at current levels.

The party says it would cost £37billion to fix the price cap prices at last October's rate and an additional £2.8 billion to transfer the businesses into public ownership. This equates to around half the £70bn cost of the Covid furlough scheme.

This policy would be funded by higher VAT revenue, a boost to the windfall tax from the government and higher taxes on the wealthy, he said.

The government has yet to unveil any major new cost-of-living measures since the spring, despite both Tory leadership candidates promising to do so if they become prime minister in September.

Recommended "Unprecedented number" of retirees could die this winter without more help with energy bills, warns a charity 75288bY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjYwNzY4OTgx-2.68346810.jpg?quality=75&width=230&auto=webp" alt="Rishi Sunak rules out Labor proposals to freeze price cap energy" height="56" width="82" layout="responsive" class="i-amphtml -layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined" i-amphtml-layout="responsive"/ >Rishi Sunak rules out Labor proposals to freeze the energy price cap

But Labor and the Liberal Democrats have said they will use state subsidies to keep energy prices at existing levels.

From April, the bill cap has increased by 54%, from £1,277 for a typical household to £1,971. It is expected to reach over £4,200 by January, having easily topped £3,000 this winter.

“We are seeing nationwide concern about the prospect of unpaid energy bills this winter,” said Greens co-leader Ms Denyer.

“Other parties have only offered to set energy prices at current levels, but we know they are already unaffordable. We would bring energy prices down to an affordable level.

"This energy supply market experiment failed. Only government can intervene on the scale required to avert disaster this winter.

Putting energy retailers into public ownership would probably not reduce bills on its own, as they would still have to buy gas as massively increasing wholesale prices.

These prices are high due to a surge in demand following the restart of the global economy after Covid, and supply restrictions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Wholesale energy companies like Shell and Centrica are also making record profits on the back of high gas prices.

However, a public energy distributor could be forced by the government to...