Misery exported

Just a couple of weeks ago it emerged that the Big Six energy companies were overcharging their most loyal and vulnerable customers by up to £230. When thousands of mainly elderly people die of cold each year, this is unacceptable.

What is equally unacceptable is the way our Government is spending our aid budget to support the same failed privatisation model in developing countries like Nigeria, where £100million has been used to support a scheme which has seen a huge price rises, more blackouts and an actual drop in the amount of power the country’s power stations are producing.

With only half the country’s population having access to electricity, it is clear that Nigeria’s energy system needed improving – but the privatisation programme our Government has supported there has only made things worse.

With a YouGov poll showing that over two-thirds of the UK population support the energy system being publicly controlled, it is clear that we need to ditch the corporate energy monopoly and move to a more democratic and accountable system. It’s less clear whether we have any politicians willing to bite the bullet and make it happen.

Tracy Rhodes

Kendal Close

Littlehampton

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