Hamburg brings utilities back into public ownership - let's have some of that here

Following a public referendum, Hamburg, Germany’s second largest city has voted to take all available steps to re-municipalise the electricity, gas, and district heating networks. The Guardian reports that Hamburg has 'joined a growing number of cities worldwide deciding to end their experiments with privatisation. Since 2007, 170 municipalities in Germany alone have brought energy services back into public hands. Globally, at least 100 cities have done the same with privatised water services over the past 15 years, including dozens of municipalities in France – once seen as a growing focus for water privatisation'
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/nov/12/hamburg-global-reverse-privatisation-city-services

Freeze prices, squeeze profits and reverse privatisation

#lab13 The reactions of energy companies to Ed Miliband’s modest proposal to challenge market failure and impose a 20 month price freeze (from 2015 to 2017) in utilities prices are as predictable as they are hysterical. Today’s media references to ‘disastrous consequences,’ ‘economic ruin’ and ‘power cuts’ reflect the determination of corporate interests to resist political regulation let alone a return to public ownership.
    Neil Clark of the Campaign for Public Ownership has pointed out ultimately more radical measures will be required to resolve the underlying problem: ‘the experts tell us that we need more competition in the energy market. We need more regulation. We need the government to ‘get tough’ with the utility companies and make it easier for us to switch providers. But the reason why our utility bills are so high and continue to rise year after year above inflation is a simple one indeed. It is the same reason our rail fares are so high and continue to rise year after year above inflation. It's called privatisation’
http://campaign4publicownership.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/energy-crisis-answer-is-obvious.html

Return the utilities to public ownership

Sick and tired of reading about the super profits of the big six energy companies? Sign the petition which calls for the renationalisation of water, gas and electricity utilities:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/42114
http://usilive.org/bigsix

What the frack is he talking about?

‘Let them eat cake’ are the words attributed to a spoilt French princess who on learning that the peasants had no bread suggested brioche instead - as opposed to ordinary bread, Brioche was enriched with butter and reflected the princess's ignorance of the plight of the peasants.

Energy security, Energy diplomacy, Energy wars

'The truth behind the War on Terror is that it is part of Western powers' imperialistic quest to secure natural resource reserves for their corporations. We should all fear for the peoples of energy-rich regions as the global resource grab plummets new depths' writes Patrick Kane of War on Want in an excellent analysis of the link between Western commercial interests (corporations) and militarism in Africa:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/patrick-kane/mali-algeria-libya-energy-diplomacy_b_2687432.html

Trade unions confronting climate change in Cancun‏

Until the middle of December, energy and environment ministers representing governments from across the globe, unions and green organisations have taken all up residence in the Mexican party resort of Cancun. http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-18876-f0.cfm

Cameron's "toy-town democracy"‏

“Cameron says: give people the right to veto council tax rises. How about people having a right to veto public services – their services, paid for by their money – being outsourced to the high-cost, low-quality private sector? (For a useful source on the damaging sources of outsourcing see UNISON's Positively Public campaign.) How about people being able to veto rises in their gas and electricity bills when companies are making massive super-profits?” says Hilary Wainwright, co-editor of Red Pepper, in a blistering critique of David Cameron’s “toy-town democracy”.
From the Guardian’s Comment is free General Election coverage:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/14/david-cameron-big-society-conservatives

UNISON condemns gas company super profits‏

This week’s announcement that British Gas retail business has made huge profits up 58 per cent at £595m has been condemned by energy unions GMB and UNISON.

The unfunny joke of energy policy‏

Neil Clark, writing in the Morning Star, says the recent Ofgem report doesn’t go anywhere near far enough. Privately owned energy companies will continue to put short term profits ahead of Britain’s longer term energy concerns: