Energy companies are bleeding British families dry. Here’s how to fix it

‘Britain’s energy industry should never have been reduced to a cash cow for profiteers.’ Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Britain’s households have been reduced to cash machines for the shareholders of energy giants. For any future historian seeking to understand just how broken was the British economic model of the 2020s, the dichotomy of these two statistics requires no further explanation: £6.9bn of profits for BP – the second highest ever – while the average household energy bill is expected to reach more than £3,600 a year by winter.

This is self-evidently unaffordable for millions of British families, all too many of whom already skip hot meals to ensure their children are fed, while the only hardship shareholders can expect are hangovers from one too many champagne dinners.