“Repulsive” Angela Knight is now defending our rip-off energy companies

Up to and during the banking crisis, we were constantly subjected to the British Banking Association’s Angela Knight appearing on TV to defend the banks. Whatever the banks did – aggressive tax avoidance, money laundering, mis-selling, profiteering, paying massive undeserved bonuses to failed executives, defrauding customers and shareholders, bribing politicians, fleecing taxpayers – the “repulsive” (in my opinion) Angela Knight could be relied on (in my opinion) to deny that the banks had ever done anything wrong.

Now our Angela has a new, presumably extremely well-paid job – defending our rip-off energy companies. So, if Angela tries to paint a picture of our energy companies being caring and customer-focused (as I believe she did for our banks) here are just a few facts.

1. Our often foreign-owned energy companies make four to five times as much profit in the UK than they are allowed to make in their properly regulated home markets.

2. They are so profitable in the UK that Scottish Power’s Spanish owner Iberdrola recently lent its American subsidiary £800m leeched from its UK customers, as the American subsidiary needed the money to meet investment commitments it had made to US regulators

3. Since 2006-7, the useless UK regulator Ofgem’s budget increased from £18.6m to £32.6m and yet due to Ofgem’s pathetic efforts, the UK is one of the most profitable energy markets in the world.

4. As you’ll see in the diagram below (I apologise that I have used this before), our energy companies keep pushing up prices whether the wholesale prices they pay rise or fall.

Angela Knight really seems to have found the perfect job for someone of her admirable talents and high moral values.