Ministers must consider drastic options if the energy fat cats don’t slash prices

hat in hand

OH to be a fly on the wall when energy fat cats are subpoenaed by Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to justify their outrageous gains.

We hope he doesn’t fall for any lame excuses or special pleas that it’s not their fault the bills are skyrocketing.

1

The fact is that the power bosses’ bank balances continue to swell as households teeter on the brink of financial collapse with bills heading towards £4,400 a year.

As we’re announcing today, one possible outcome of the summit is a tougher windfall tax on energy company profits to subsidize bills.

The huge sums raised by the likes of British gas owner Centrica are due to Putin’s war in Ukraine, not their own ingenuity.

It would be better – not to mention the more ethical – if they lowered prices voluntarily rather than capping them to the maximum allowed under the cap.

However, there seems to be a good chance of that happening. So it’s your own fault if ministers consider drastic options.

Bill’s No-mates

AS bills spiraling out of control, there’s no shortage of ‘experts’ taking to the airwaves to demand immediate action from the Tory government on the energy crisis.

Fair enough, one might think. Besides looking at who they are.
There is Gordon Brown, whose household incontinence dumped hundreds of billions on the UK debt mountain and who was a key figure in the New Labor administration that failed to start work on new nuclear power plants.

Or what of Sir Ed Davey, whose own Liberal Democrats actively opposed building new nuclear power plants in 2010 because they would not be ready until 2021 or 2022? How foolish such short-termism looks now.

Then there’s the rousing CBI chief Tony Danker, who as late as June was urging a rush towards net-zero environmental targets despite the economic downturn.

If there’s one thing a sated country doesn’t need, it’s hot air from this bunch.

plumbing

The latest to be hit by a hose ban are Thames Water’s 15 million customers.

This is the same Thames Water that failed to get a £250million desalination plant up and running in London designed to help fight droughts.

It has also proved unable to stop untreated sewage from entering our rivers, scandalously losing a quarter of its water supply to leaks.

Meanwhile, CEO Sarah Bentley – who recently told customers to take shorter showers – pocketed £2million last year and is now set for £727,000 in bonuses.

At this rate, the bosses of the energy and water companies will soon make a good name for themselves in politics.