Prime minister David Cameron gave a breathless welcome to Hitachi's purchase of the Horizon nuclear venture abandoned by Eon and RWE, declaring it a "decades-long, multi-billion pound vote of confidence in the UK". The reality is that it is a punt based on an anticipation that the government will come up with the goods when it decides what nuclear generators will be able to charge for their power. That means that the nuclear operators will be able to charge for their output at rates that outstrip current wholesale electricity prices and will be protected for decades.
Is this the end of energy market liberalisation?
