Political intervention the “biggest threat” to utilities

Political intervention through changes to energy policies are seen as the biggest threat to the future of the utility companies.

An Ernst & Young report, launched today, surveys 110 power and utility companies from 20 countries, and they ranked political interference as their biggest concern. 

Richard Postance, power and utility advisory leader at Ernst & Young, said: “Given its potential impact on everything from half-century capital planning to customer operations, political intervention is seen as a significant risk for the P&U industry, even in markets like the UK that have been considered stable and transparent.” 

He added: “We are seeing a real fear amongst utilities of ending up on the wrong end of expedient, but short sighted political action.”