IN THE COLD AND IN THE DARK?

That Ofgen has said that there is "reasonable doubt" about the ability of the UK's energy market to deliver sustainable energy supplies in the coming decade, should come as no surprise to anyone with half an eye on what has been going on within the energy sector over the last twenty years. Neither should it come as much of a surprise when Ofgen goes onto say that the open competitive energy market, such as it is in the UK, may fail to deliver secure, sustainable supplies in the coming decade.

This is the result of a sustained lack of Government interest in the energy sector, particularly when it comes to developing the sustainable energy sector, especially when it comes to the development of realistic storage for gas and when it comes to developing sustainable green energy resources. UK Government interest in the energy sector and this applies equally to whoever has been and is in government at Westminster, has largely been focused on spending the funds received from the energy companies and profiting from higher tax returns when energy prices and energy company profits have risen.

Ofgen has effectively admitted that as a result of the credit crunch, the ongoing problems of maintaining international supplies, and dealing with the consequences of dealing with global warming that the UK needs to look for new solutions to protect security of energy supply. Ofgen, somewhat belatedly has also suggested that the private energy companies be required to deliver more generation capacity and gas storage. Things must be bad, because the suggestion has been made that the industry should revert to a form of centralised market control, which is potentially the most significant shake up of the complacent energy sector since privatisation.

The suggestion that the energy sector needs some £200bn of investment and stronger incentives to deliver sustainable and secure energy supplies for the UK within the next ten years, may prompt many people, who have been paying higher and higher energy bills since privatisation to wonder where all the vast profits that the privatised energy companies have been tucking away have gone?

And over the longer term who has really benefited from the privatisation of the energy market, save for the Tories and their money men and banker friends in the City of London, as we face in the short term yet another cold spell and in the medium term higher energy bills and in the longer term potential energy blackouts over the next few year, I suspect that the answer may turn out to be the few at the expense of the many.