Morning Star Editorial: The neoliberal model of privatised water is sunk
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/neoliberal-model-privatised-water-sunk
A tanker from Thames WaterINVESTMENT in Britain’s water utilities took a dive under Thatcher’s government. By 1980 investment by the regional water authorities dropped by two-thirds as the neoliberal straitjacket into which public expenditure was confined limited their ability to raise capital.
Contrast this to the present situation where the now privatised water companies have racked up millions in loans that seem more valued as a source of ready cash to pay bonuses, dividends and sweeteners than infrastructure investment.
The total debt burden of the dozen privately owned water companies stands at £65 billion which this year’s Commons report says is perilously close to the 70 per cent gearing at which commercial credibility is compromised.
Jo Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, which has been involved in legal challenges to a number of water companies, says: “The water sector has been poorly regulated for decades. It has been poorly regulated primarily by allowing water companies to over extract water from aquifers and reservoirs but also cash from operating entities within the water companies, and they’ve been allowed to underinvest in water infrastructure.”
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The logical case for public ownership is sometimes challenged by the suggestion that taking these failing enterprises into public ownership would be prohibitively expensive.
This is, of course, true if these enterprises were to offered for sale at the price their owners value them. A socialist government armed with a popular mandate and backed by a working class armed with both resolve and the necessary instruments of coercion might simply dispossess these rapacious incompetents and instruct them, individually and as a class, to find an alternative way of making a living freed of the responsibilities of ownership.
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/neoliberal-model-privatised-water-sunk
‘Never-ending cost-of-living crisis’
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/never-ending-cost-living-crisis
An online energy billLabour urged to reform energy pricing over surprise rise in bills
LABOUR was urged to reform energy pricing yesterday as unions and campaigners warned that a surprise 2 per cent rise in bills will hit 12 million homes already in fuel poverty.
GMB union hit out at the “never-ending cost-of-living crisis” after regulator Ofgem announced that the average household’s energy bill is to rise to £1,755 a year from October — despite wholesale prices falling by 2 per cent over the past three months.
Standing charges — the figure consumers pay per day to have energy supplied to their homes — are set to rise by 4 per cent for electricity and a whopping 14 per cent for gas, or 7p a day.
The 2.21 per cent year-on-year rise means average annual energy bills will be £713 higher than in winter 2020/21.
GMB national secretary Andy Prendergast said: “People are already struggling under a never-ending cost-of-living crisis.
“Any increase in energy prices could crash millions of household budgets.
“To make any green transition work, the UK has to be pragmatic: taking advantage of cheap gas prices to cut bills instead of subsidising heat pumps for the richest.
“The poorest in society must not be the ones who bear the biggest burden for saving our planet.”
Energy minister Michael Shanks blamed wholesale gas prices remaining 75 per cent above their levels before Russia invaded Ukraine.
But End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “We need urgent reforms to fix the broken pricing system, steps to ensure households benefit from targeted support for cold homes, a nationwide insulation and ventilation drive, reform of energy trading rules and lower standing charges.
“Meanwhile, expansion of renewables and upgrading the grid must be funded by investment or by tackling excess network and energy company profits, not by loading more costs onto struggling households.”
Pointing out that gas unit rates remain almost double pre-crisis levels and the cost of electricity in Britain is set by the most expensive generator — usually gas-fired power stations — he added: “It’s time for action — wind and solar are far cheaper ways of generating power and North Sea gas reserves are unable to meet domestic heating needs from 2027.”
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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/never-ending-cost-living-crisis
Government urged to drop ‘parasitic’ private contracts as rail fares set to soar
People using a ticket machine at Waterloo train station in LondonTHE government was urged to ditch “parasitic” private contracts today after it emerged that regulated train fares in England could soar by 5.8 per cent next year.
This year fares went up 4.6 per cent — one point higher than last July’s retail prices index (RPI).
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The government is set to renationalise all train operators by 2027 and integrate them into Great British Railways, a new public body which will also oversee rail infrastructure.
However GBR will continue to lease rolling stock, carriages and locomotives, from private firms. Outsourced contracts, such as those for cleaning staff, are also set to remain.
A spokesperson for rail union RMT said: “Our analysis shows that £720 million is extracted each year from our railways through rolling stock leasing, outsourcing and subcontracting.
“Eliminating that profiteering would allow fares to be cut by 6.5 per cent.
“The government has an opportunity under GBR to remove these parasitic contracts that drain resources from the network and instead offer real value for money for passengers through public ownership.”
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Original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-urged-drop-parasitic-private-contracts-rail-fares-set-soar
Campaigners urge government to prioritise ending fuel poverty in home upgrade plan
An elderly lady holding a cup of tea at home in Liverpool with her electric fire onTHE Warm Homes Plan should be judged on how much it cuts fuel poverty rather than focusing on technical targets, campaigners urged the government yesterday.
The £13.2 billion scheme aims to improve energy efficiency in five million homes by 2030.
End Fuel Poverty Coalition has written to energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, outlining key recommendations to ensure it delivers for those most in need.
Campaigners suggest that the scheme’s success should not be judged by how many insulation measures are installed, or homes moved to EPC band C, but by how far it goes in ending fuel poverty.
About five million households in Britain are trapped deep fuel poverty, according to a University of York study.
Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition (EFPC), said: “Cold homes cause suffering, cost lives and drive up costs for the NHS.
“The Warm Homes Plan can be the solution — but only if it’s designed around the real needs of people, not just technical targets.”
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article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/campaigners-urge-government-prioritise-ending-fuel-poverty-home-upgrade-plan
