[SideburnsOfDoom]

> Is this not simply how markets work?

The UK is an outlier as noted above. So no, this is not "simply how things work" in general. It's unusual.

> it would just mean prices will be higher at another moment, no?

No, see first quoted piece of text above.

My assumption also is that it's a far from perfect market - see last paragraph.

[ZeroGravitas]

The UK isn't an outlier in this regard. It's a fairly standard setup.

[SideburnsOfDoom]

So you disagree with the article above, which says "Britain continues to have one of the most expensive electricity markets in the world" ?

And "Britain paying highest electricity prices in the world"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/09/26/britain-burd..."

And "Why are Britain’s power prices the highest in the world?"

https://reports.electricinsights.co.uk/q4-2024/why-are-brita...

And "UK energy bills highest in Europe and public patience is wearing thin"

https://news.sky.com/story/uk-energy-bills-highest-in-europe...

"highest" means an outlier, doesn't it?

[OJFord]

It being more expensive in Britain doesn't mean it doesn't work the same way (just come out with a lower price) elsewhere in the world.

From your electricinsights article:

> Most markets work in this way: Saudi Arabia’s oil is cheap to produce but gets a very similar price to higher-cost oil from the North Sea. The underlying economic principle is so widespread that it’s known as the Law of One Price.

[SideburnsOfDoom]

OK, I get it. The UK is an outlier in outcome, but not in process.

But I still think there's something very British in insisting "Why, it's all above board, we play by the same rules as everyone else of course. We just get a worse outcome than anyone else because, well ... um ... look over there! Immigrants!!" (I'm not paraphrasing you, rather the country as a whole)

British exceptionalism at its finest.

[ZeroGravitas]

If you want corruption it's much more up front. The Conservatives effectively banned onshore wind in England for a decade just after it became the cheapest source of electricity available.

Real Trump-level stupid and like Trump, the media seems to be actively diverting attention from it.

That and not installing insulation or mandating new homes to be better built cost the country billions and it got more costly when gas prices spiked.

The current govenrment can't shift costs from clean electricity to dirty gas, or to general taxation, because the media would crucify them. Meanwhile Farage is campaigning on getting rid of net zero and the NHS and they love him.

The same media starting a culture war about heat pumps at the moment. Basically if you assume the media and the political right are owned by gas and oil interests, the politics since North Sea discoveries make a lot more sense. It's like they were trying to burn as much of it as inefficiently as possible rather than use it wisely for its owners, the people.