Power, not profit

There is this tendency in Britain not to complain, and companies like SSE and other utility suppliers, as well as Ofgem and more, capitalise on this.

Putting up the prices in the manner in which SSE did two months ago and then reporting a profit of £1.5 billion is utterly obscene, and it should be ashamed of itself. Abusing and exploiting customers in this manner is not just unacceptable but downright wrong.

These companies should never have been privatised. They should be run for service profit and not shareholder profit. Mrs Thatcher should have been ashamed for pushing for this, as well as all the bank deregulation.

All over the UK, and particularly in Scotland, hydropower could be generating power much more efficiently than these awful, expensive, inefficient and unsightly wind turbines.

Forty-odd years ago I watched the tide flowing in and out of the narrows at Ballachulish twice a day, at up to 6 knots (7mph), and thought then how good it would be to put turbines with reversible fins into the sea for more or less constant generation. These would be huge assets, would be cost effective, would not impinge on views and could be made not to damage wildlife.

Most of our power-generating companies are foreign-owned and we should have an uprising against all this, to return them to British nationalisation, being run for the benefit of all UK residents – not overseas shareholders and bonus-grabbing directors with no interest in the common good of people here.

John Maclean

Stevenson Road

Haddington