NATIONALISING Britain’s energy network could slash bills, cut inflation and pay for itself within just a few years, eye-opening research published today by the Unite union reveals. 

General secretary Sharon Graham demanded an end to the “scandal of our energy system allowing profiteers to pocket billions while workers and communities are left in the cold.”

She hailed the union’s latest report as the first to determine the potential cost and savings of taking back control of the country’s entire energy network.

This includes North Sea oil and gas production, electricity generation, transmission and distribution networks and supply companies.

The paper shows that firms across the essential sector pocketed a whopping £45 billion last year.

If the cash had been kept in public hands, it could have been used to save every household £1,800 as well as fund a rapid transition to a “green future with secure jobs,” Unite stressed.

Record-high energy bills are massive contributors to 40-year high double-digit inflation, but if energy profits had been used to freeze costs in mid-2021 when prices started to spike following the end of Covid-19 lockdowns, then inflation this year would be 4.1 per cent lower, it noted.

In terms of the overall cost of nationalisation, using the “book value” approach, which compensates companies for their spending, the union estimates a total outlay of £90bn — just two years of profits at 2022 levels.

Even as gas and electricity prices fall, taking control of energy “would pay for itself within a few years,” the report concludes.

Ms Graham said: “It’s a tragic missed opportunity that, if the energy system had been run for the benefit of all not the profits of a few, households could have saved £45bn, avoiding high bills that have left millions in the cold or searching for ‘warm banks.’

“It’s time to pull the plug on the energy profiteers. Unite is showing it’s no longer a question of ‘can we afford to’ — it’s how long can we afford not to.”

The damning intervention follows yet more record-high profits for BP and Shell, which have banked a combined total of £55bn over the past year.

We Own It founder Cat Hobbs told the Morning Star: “It is scandalous that shareholder profits have skyrocketed while energy bills have left thousands with nothing in the bank.

“But it’s not inevitable — this new Unite research shows what’s possible.”