The TUC argues that if the UK had a state-backed energy generation company akin to France’s EDF, EnBW in Germany or Sweden’s Vattenfall, it would receive between £63bn and £122bn in revenues over the next two years. That is equivalent to between £2,250 and £4,400 a household.
True, but then the public would have had to pay to build all that capacity too. Further, as and when – if – prices return to more normal levels than the public would gain less – possibly, less than the cost of building all that capacity. In fact, given that the public has to subsidise much of that capacity, they would earn less than it costs to build.
The TUC’s looking at revenues in a boom, not costs in a bust – and one thing we know about booms is that they don’t last forever.
‘… it would receive between £63bn and £122bn in revenues over the next two years.’
Are they conflating revenue with earnings perhaps – Leftie loons tend not to know the difference?
Revenue is not earnings and particularly if revenue only covers cost or worse doesn’t cover cost – notoriously the case for State-run anything which inevitably become bloated – leaving the taxpayer to meet the shortfall as was the case with pre-Thatcher UK State-run dinosaurs.
What JohnB says…
Nationalisation might work in the case of an efficient and practical-minded government/governmental body.
The actual chances on that are …not impossible…, but long-term bloat will creep in, and eventually take over.
Especially when “do-gooders” and Activists like the Guardian get to have a say in it.