Every day brings ever-scarier headlines about what gas prices are going to do to our economy, to our family budgets. We’re all being asked to pay a painfully high price for the reverse blockade of Russia’s energy exports - a by-blow from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. What can and should a responsible government be doing to protect its citizens in these strange circumstances. We:
Discuss price caps vs targetted grants,
Lament the way energy price caps are linked to spot gas prices, rather than average attained prices;
Question whether the spot gas market is giving a true signal, or whether it is being manipulated, and
Lay out the framework for correcting a framework of energy policies which has gone badly wrong.
Just William - On Energy Prices