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If you’ve paid an energy bill, chances are you’ve been ripped off by the big energy giants for at least the last five years.

Even the government’s own regulator says that more than £1billion a year in excess profits is being made by the energy industry.

An energy price cap is a start but on its own it isn’t going to sort out the broken energy market.

What is needed are community-owned energy firms and more investment in making homes energy efficient so that we’re not dependent on the energy giants.

The privatisation of the utility companies under Margaret Thatcher, which Theresa May’s Tories have always defended, was supposed to lead to the creation of a competitive market in which customers would shop around for the best deal.

But more than a quarter of a century later, six companies dominate, and too many of their customers pay over the odds.

Government-commissioned studies by the Competition and Markets Authority show that energy companies are making excess profits of well over £1billion a year, so fundamental change to the way our energy market works is long overdue.

Changing the way the energy sector works isn’t just a straight choice between the current privatised model or returning to the nationalised Gas and Electricity boards of old.

Instead, there is a strong case for a very different type of ownership model – one that transforms the energy market and involves those most directly affected by how the business operates – its consumers and workers.

In Oxford, Westmill is a solar energy farm, owned by the local community, run by members for the benefit of customers and ensuring profits stay in the area and boost the local economy.

We should build on this model, and support the creation of a new network of energy co-operatives.

A windfall tax on the Big Six to help fund the expansion of co-operative and council-led community energy schemes would transform the energy market.

(Image: The Labour Party/PA Photos)

These should be locally owned and managed in the interest of customers and workers, ready to compete the Big Six out of business by offering a fairer deal, and being accountable to the people directly affected by decisions, not simply to shareholders who only care about the bottom line.

All the big energy firms have increased prices this year, with experts suggesting the cheapest rates are being withdrawn in anticipation of the price cap.

All the Conservatives seem to be achieving is to end the little competition that does actually exist in the energy market whilst still pretending a rigged, broken system is still essential.

In the Co-op Party we think it’s time to have a fundamental rethink and bring about a transformation of the energy market so that it works for customers and staff, not just executives and shareholders.

* Gareth Thomas MP is chair of the Co-operative Party