CAMPAIGNERS intensified their demands for energy infrastructure to be brought back into full public ownership today after the National Grid posted a 14 per cent increase in underlying profits. 

The firm, which builds and runs power grids and cables across Britain, reported an underlying operating profit of £2.05 billion for the six months until September 30, surpassing £1.8bn in the same period last year.

The grid charges energy suppliers for network use. Costs are then passed on to consumers through their bills, which rose by another 10 per cent last month.

In 2023, National Grid shareholders received £1.6bn in dividends, while six million households remained trapped in fuel poverty amid skyrocketing costs.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said National Grid’s profits “lay bare” Britain’s broken energy system.

She said: “Energy profiteers like National Grid are extracting cash for overseas shareholders through ever more expensive bills.

“It is time our energy infrastructure was brought back into public ownership so that the British people and economy benefit rather than foreign wealth funds.”

Research by the union found that a nationalised transmission and distribution system could save £3.8bn a year.

Apart from Portugal, Britain is the only country in Europe to have a privatised electricity grid.

Public ownership campaign We Own It director Cat Hobbs told the Morning Star: ““The National Grid is no longer owned by you and me, the British public. Thatcher sold it off to a bunch of overseas billionaires and investment funds. It remains a hugely attractive investment proposition because, like the water industry, it’s a natural monopoly. In effect customers are forced to use the service.

“What happens when we need to make huge upgrades to the system?

“Like improvements urgently needed to handle the massive shift to renewable electricity? While the private owners love taking profits out, they are less keen on putting money in.

“The solution is public ownership. Instead of those profits leaking out into the bank accounts of foreign billionaires, we could reinvest the £4bn a year saved into crucial network upgrades. This will prepare us for a green transition and lower our energy bills.”

In September, the government announced that it will bring part of the National Grid into public ownership by acquiring the electricity system operator, which operates the control room that balances real-time power supply and demand, in a £630m deal.

But for now bills are still on the rise — and last month regulator Ofgem raised its energy cap, increasing costs from £1,568 to £1,717 per year for a typical household. 

End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “National Grid is one of the private monopolies that add to our standing charges through their role in the energy system. 

“We need reform of these charges so that we are no longer bankrolling companies to make excess profits while people shiver in cold damp homes.”

Caroline Simpson from Warm This Winter said: “Everyone is fed up with being ripped off by the energy sector and yet again we see another arm of this profiteering industry reporting massive profits.”  

She called on greedy firms to foot the bill for a social tariff that would provide a discount on energy bills to those in greatest need of help.