There’s no chance of cutting bills while the private sector runs the UK energy market

‘In the UK, contracts for offshore wind generation are all given to commercial companies – including large publicly owned European companies.’ An EDF windfarm off Teesport, England. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Our energy system is crucial to two of the biggest issues facing the British public: the cost of living crisis and the climate and environment emergency. Yet we are leaving this sector to be inefficiently and exploitatively run by private companies.

Electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels or by renewable technology such as wind turbines; then it is distributed along the national and regional grids, and finally sold to us by energy suppliers. In the UK, there is no public sector role in this: every part of the process is privatised.