North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll has called for energy firms to be nationalised as it was revealed prices would surge to more than £3,500 for an average household this winter.
Ofgem confirmed this morning that the price cap would increase to £3,549 in October, meaning the yearly gas and electricity bill for the average household will rise by more than 80 per cent.
Mr Driscoll told ChronicleLive "enough was enough" as he urged his Labour colleagues to back a policy of nationalisation.
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He said: "I’m sure the great and the good will tell us to turn down our thermostats and wear a jumper. I bet you never thought of that! But you still need to boil your kettle and cook your tea. You still need to shower and turn on your washing machine. If there’s a baby in the house, you need to keep it warm. If you’ve got a chronic chest condition, you need the air warm and dry, not cold and damp.
"And if you’re working from home this winter, will your employer compensate you for your energy bills? Will we get a tax break for subsidising the economy from our home-offices?
"It’s worse for businesses. The price cap only applies to domestic customers. Yesterday I visited a company we’ve helped win a multi-million pound new contract, creating a dozen new jobs. Their energy bill will rise from £900,000 to £3.5 million. An academy trust I heard about will see their bill rise from £1 million to £5 million. Schools, hospitals, Metro trains, the whole fabric of our society is being price gouged. 350% increases on average.
He added: "This is an emergency. We saw in Covid that we can act when we need to. Exceptional times warrant exceptional measures. Not only will we see families fall into unpayable arrears, we’ll see businesses fold and people out of work, we’ll see our public services paying their budgets to energy firms, and social enterprises will close their doors just when vulnerable people most need them.
"Right now we need an emergency budget. But we do not need to pay £100's of billions to energy suppliers.
"Nationalise the energy supply companies. Nationalise the distribution networks. Nationalise the wholesale suppliers and electricity generators. And do it properly, with citizens’ panels scrutinising them, with local authorities advising regulators, and workers from those industries on the board. We can only have energy security when we own it."
The comments come after a survey of landlords, published this week, found that seven-in-ten fear they will go bust over the next six months without Government intervention on fuel bills.
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