In Germany, a dad takes his daughter swimming in an Olympic sized pool. In Norway, a student receives her engineering degree without paying a penny in tuition fees. And in France a grandmother opens her energy bill, delighted to find it barely changed from last year.

What do they have in common? Municipal services in parts of Germany, free university tuition in Norway, and cheaper energy bills in France have all been funded with profits made by energy companies in the UK.

While the UK privatised its energy industry in the late 1980s, the governments of France, Denmark, Norway and several German provinces chose a different path. They developed publicly owned energy companies, alongside private-sector competition.

Without shareholders extracting value, these ‘public champion’ companies generated billions to reinvest in energy infrastructure, lower energy prices and public services.

The Norwegian people now own one of the world’s largest investment funds – so big that it provides a fifth of the nation’s budget year-on-year. This is in large part because it directed profits from its North Sea oil and gas fields into a sovereign wealth fund.

The UK could have done the same. Instead, successive governments allowed private companies to take all the profit.

This is galling for people working in the energy sector who are excited about the potential for modernising our energy infrastructure. The UK’s ports, factories, wind farms and new energy installations, such as tidal stream and wave turbines, could be much further ahead than we are if so much had not been siphoned off in private profits.

Powerful offshore winds 
Oil and gas are not the only riches off our shores. Powerful winds course across the North Sea like rich seams of gold. But unlike gold – or fossil fuels – no matter how much you take it never runs out.

The UK has had the second largest expansion of offshore wind power in the world in the last 20 years. And this time, much of the profit flowed into the public purse... but in other countries: to Sweden, via the company Vattenfall; to the United Arab Emirates, via Masdar; and to Canada, via a Quebec public pensions investment fund.

Meanwhile, fabrication yards and ports stood empty in Scotland and north-east England as wind turbine contracts went elsewhere in the world. And crews servicing turbine construction sites were found to be working for less than the national minimum wage.

TUC research shows that, if the UK had a publicly owned energy champion like other countries, between £63bn and £122bn could be kept in public hands over the next two years (due to the escalation of wholesale energy prices).

Great British Energy
This should not just be a moment for looking back in regret. It’s not too late to late to change our approach. In fact, we are still in the early stages of a major energy transition.

As we build the tremendous amount of new clean energy infrastructure needed to keep the climate safe for future generations, the UK public should get the full benefit from future profits. Our report sets out proposals for the creation of a public energy champion to give the UK people a major stake in our new energy infrastructure.

Since we published our report, the Labour Party has announced plans for Great British Energy – a publicly owned company along the lines we have proposed. We are now calling on all the Westminster parties to back the creation of a public energy champion.

The national wealth that will be generated is not the only benefit. Energy companies are tools for long-term transformation too. When their only aim is public benefit, they can help transform the nation in positive ways for us all.

Public energy champions can think ahead to the energy mix needed for the future. They can pioneer technologies, like Ørsted with offshore wind and EDF with nuclear. Where pioneering public sector investment went first, abundant private investment followed. On the scale of German or French companies, a new UK public energy champion could build 27–77 GW of new clean electricity. This is up to a third of the power needed for UK homes and industries by 2050.

For those who work in the sector, a public energy champion can set the gold standard for being a good employer, with best practice on workplace safety, pay, benefits and workforce relations.

If we get on the right track now – if we invest in a public energy champion – it will help make sure that our children and grandchildren live in warm homes, breathe clean air, and work in good jobs.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the author only and are not necessarily given or endorsed by or on behalf of the Energy Institute.