Scandal of Britain's energy crisis

Here's a provocative thought for those who accuse the energy utilities of profiteer-ing at the expense of hard- pressed consumers. If gas and electricity prices were still regulated, as they used to be and as some politicians believe they should again, the regulator would in all probability have allowed even bigger prices increases than the ones that are now being implemented.
Britain faces a massive programme of energy investment, made all the more burdensome by the Government's environmental targets. The renewable and nuclear programmes promise to be particularly expensive. The existence of competition in the provision of gas and electricity may have delivered a better result for the consumer than the regulator would have done, as some companies seem willing to sustain poor returns for a while to gain market share.
Small wonder that some utilities are so resistant to the Government's proposed levy to help alleviate energy poverty. The demands being placed on them are already extreme. The real culprit in the present row about high energy prices is not profiteering utilities, but the Government's abject failure until it was too late to recognise the massive investment programme faced by the industry to deliver energy security and environmental goals.
The Government simply buried its head in the sand and hoped the prospect of steeply rising fuel bills would go away. If it now whacks the industry for a windfall tax, having failed to persuade utilities to cough up the money voluntarily, it will only provoke higher bills still.