Venezuelan Economics and Incompetence in the Energy Market

It is difficult being a Conservative Party Member to see the failures of the One Nation brand come back to life under the current administration.  We have failed to learn the lessons that State intervention in markets has unintended consequences ad usually fails, miserably.  The really big issue to note that the Government is happy for private enterprises and their shareholders to bear the burden of Government incompetence on a grand scale.

The introduction of the price cap in energy, and lets not forget a Labour Party policy, was intended to protect consumers from swings in energy prices but really was a cover-up for capping the profits of companies supplying energy as well as covering up market failures and the fact that many consumers were simply too lazy to seek out a better deal.  It also placed huge power in the hands of the regulator OFGEM widely acknowledged as incompetent.

You then have to put into this sorry tale the rush for going green which is beginning to take the shape of a Boris Johnson legacy project.  The transition to green energy and zero carbon is probably the right policy but has to be done in a managed and pragmatic way that does not bankrupt the economy and has plenty of contingency built in for the many times the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow.  We need to consider the country’s needs rather than react to a teenage activists demands for her dreams to be protected.

Instead, we have placed our energy security into the hands of a narcissistic French President who will use Britain as his favourite bogey man whenever it suits him and the megalomaniac Russian President intent on serious mischief and taking over Ukraine.

The British people have been badly let down by many previous Governments energy policies who have ducked questions around replacing Britains ageing nuclear infrastructure and have heavily subsidised wind and solar at enormous cost to bill payers. We are now reaping what we have sowed.

Britain needs energy security, we still have reserves of North Sea oil and gas a if we undertook limited fracking large reserves of gas that would give us a huge advantage over our near competitors.  It is time that, ironically, a Conservative Government, stops acting like the proto-socialist Venezuelans and quickly.