The petition for Energy For All and its hundreds of thousands of signatures have made waves in the UK, shaking assumptions about what is needed and what is possible. Since we issued the call in February, the background information has changed. 

The 54% increase in energy prices came in on 1 April – and an even bigger rise is expected in October. 

The £200 “loan not loan” has been replaced by more substantial  – but still far from adequate – help, even as prices of food, transport, housing and everything else have soared along with energy leaving millions still in debt and in fear of the next winter.  

The government has indeed brought in a Windfall Tax on oil and gas profiteers – but what they have taken with one hand they are giving back with the other. UK taxpayers will now make a 91p in the £ donation to these already hugely profitable corporations as a reward for investing in their own polluting, climate-wrecking industry.  

The need to reverse the huge injustice of energy pricing remains as strong as ever. 

The petition remains a crucial tool.  Sadly, the demand itself, for Energy For All, is as up-to-date and relevant as ever – a stepping stone away from inequality, and towards a more caring way of life.