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by Keith Richmond

CAMPAIGNERS are calling for the return of the energy companies to the public sector after the recent inflation-busting price rises for gas and electricity which will leave a million and a half more Britons in fuel poverty this winter.

More than 4.5 million people in Britain are already living in fuel poverty – defined as having to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on keeping warm – and soaring energy bills led the National Consumer Council to predict that number will rise to more than six million.

The Campaign for Public Ownership, which aims to harness public dissatisfaction with privatisation and campaigns for a reversal of “the disastrous policies of the last 29 years”, said: “Calls for a windfall tax are sure to increase following the news that the big six energy companies hiked shareholder dividends payouts by 19 per cent.”

The companies paid £1.64 billion in dividends in 2007 – £257 million more than the year before – according to a study for the Local Government Association.

“While calls for a windfall tax are understandable, the Campaign for Public Ownership believes that the only long term solution to the problem of energy company profiteering is to restore the energy companies to public ownership.

“The problem lies in the ownership structure of the energy companies. All of them are public limited companies, whose overriding aim is to maximise profits for shareholders. That’s what plcs do.

“Instead of reacting with horror to the entirely predictable news that plcs are putting the interests of shareholders before Britain’s long-suffering energy consumers, we should instead be calling for the government to take the one step that will lead to lower energy prices in the long term.

“Restoring the energy companies to public ownership will mean that prices can be lowered as there will be no shareholder dividends to pay.”

Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: “Many of the poorest pensioners will be outraged that while they are worrying about how to afford to heat their homes, energy companies continue to make significant profits and pay their shareholders increased dividends.

“The energy companies and the Government are also sharing in a multi-billion pound windfall gain from the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme.

“We want a substantial proportion of these windfall gains to be recycled to support a new strategy to tackle fuel poverty. Alongside wider reforms, this would be a fair way of balancing the responsibility of the government and the energy industry to help vulnerable customers.”

The National Consumer Council wants energy companies to offer more low cost “social tariffs” with discounts to families on low incomes, older people and those with long-term illnesses and Energywatch wants action across the European Union to break the historic link between oil and gas prices which is hurting consumers.