With energy prices now shooting into the stratosphere, Guido’s had a quick look through the archives to remind himself why the pointless price cap was ever introduced in the first place. He stumbled across a 2017 campaign speech from Theresa May:

“…[I think] it’s right, as does everybody sitting around the Cabinet table, for government to take action to support working families. And what we’re talking about is a cap on energy prices that will be set by an independent regulator, and that will be a reflection of the market […] We’re Conservatives, we believe in free markets and competition. But we want to see competition working… under our cap, prices will be able to go down.”

May also wrote a Sun op-ed claiming the cap would “stand up for millions of working families” and help keep prices low. Of the 70 or so suppliers in the market when the energy cap legislation passed in 2018, 24 remain. The price cap to see competition working… destroyed competition.