From 1st January 2024, the price of energy for a typical household using gas and electricity and who pay by Direct Debit went up by another £94, rubbing more salt into the wound of the current cost-of-living crisis.
On an entirely unrelated note, the world’s five largest energy providers are expected this year to reward their investors with record payouts of more than $100 billion, following another year of record profits that continue to be triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its impact on global energy markets and gas prices across Europe.
With a dysfunctional fossil fuel market driving energy prices sky high, 2023 was still the second hottest year on record in the UK (the top spot goes to 2022) seeing a wet summer bookended by heat waves of 33º in both June and September, alongside stories of ever more extreme weather events around the globe. It is clear that the case for owning our own, clean energy has never been more overwhelming.
Fortunately, there is a choice. With a General Election on the cards in 2024, voters will get the opportunity to choose between Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives (who have, in 12 years, failed to get to grips with the energy crisis and continue to renege on their environmental commitments), and Keir Starmer’s Labour Party with their vision of a transformative plan to create Great British Energy: a new, publicly-owned clean energy company that will harness Britain’s sun, wind and rain to create jobs, cut energy bills, accelerate net zero – and make the UK energy independent.
- Pat Osborne
North Dorset Labour
