Some figures:

Increase in gas prices announced by EDF Energy at the end of July: 22 percent
Increase in gas prices announced by British Gas: 35 percent
Average annual gas bill, all suppliers, in January: £557
Average annual gas bill today: £708
Increase in electricity prices announced by British Gas: 9 percent
Average combined gas and electricity bills, British Gas, in January: £913
Average combined bill today: £1,317
Profits for British Gas parent company Centrica, first half of 2008: £880 million

All this is an outrage. Yet the outcry in the capitalist press, usually linked to calls for a one-off "windfall tax" on the energy companies' profits, seems bizarrely out of place. After all, isn't this what capitalist firms are supposed to do - make a profit?

A windfall tax would be better than nothing, but not much. We demand that the energy companies should be nationalised, under users' and workers' control, and their profits used to bring down prices, improve services and invest in developing renewable energy.