Renationalise Vital Energy Utilities

That the Parliament notes the latest obscene profits posted by Scottish Power, of £483 million over the last six months, a 77% increase on the same period 12 months ago; further notes that these huge profits are generated on the back of unjustified price hikes like the 17% increase in gas prices and 10% increase in electricity prices introduced in June 2006, that such price increases cause real and dangerous hardship for low income and pensioner households in particular and that gas and electricity prices have been increased 11 times in 2006 alone by the privately owned energy companies with Centrica, formerly British Gas, posting profits of over £1 billion last year, and believes that gas and electricity production should be returned to the public sector where they belong so that prices to citizens can be lowered and properly regulated, and that surplus revenue from the production and sales of energy should be ploughed into society's common wealth to allow real investment in public services instead of further enrichment of private individual shareholders and fat cat chief executives.