NATIONALISED energy firms could make a whopping £140 billion for the British economy by 2040, according to a TUC analysis published today.

The union body argued investment in a publicly owned clean power company could generate £3 for every £1 put in, or £5,000 per household.

The strategy would lower record-high gas and electricity bills, make the country richer, create good clean jobs and cut carbon emissions, it said.

Labour has already committed to launching “great British energy,” a state-run firm which it claims will end energy dependence on international companies like France’s EDF and Norway’s Statkraft.

Oslo has raked in more than £300bn from North Sea oil in the last 40 years by investing in publicly owned energy firms, noted the TUC, which slammed Westminster for choosing to privatise oil fields and put “corporate profits over the public purse.”

The union body’s general secretary, Paul Nowak, said: “Publicly owned energy companies work – across Europe they are lowering household bills and delivering good jobs.

“But Britain is feeding foreign firms’ profits and subsidising cheaper bills abroad, while British households struggle to heat their homes and pay their bills.

“It’s common sense – those who invest in the future end up better off.

“A British public energy champion at the right scale could create good jobs, speed up the path to net zero and make everyone better off by a mammoth £140bn.

“Britain is at a crossroads – we can continue to allow foreign firms to rip off British households or we can invest in publicly owned clean power.”

The latter approach would be the “best way to decarbonise the economy and safeguard people’s jobs and livelihoods,” he argued.

The Tory government spent £69bn on energy support schemes last year after Russia’s attack on Ukraine led to spiralling gas and electricity bills. 

The mammoth emergency spending could have been avoided if Britain already had a “public energy champion,” the TUC said. 

While energy bills for households this side of the English Channel skyrocketed by 54 per cent, in France the same costs increased by just 4 per cent because state-run EDF was ordered by Paris to cut profits and keep prices down.