This is not surprising. 1990 utilities sold cheaply to profiteers Engineers were paid to retire Skills devalued in GB for a generation Rapid transition off fossils And suddenly, constraints!!! Who could have predicted it eh? Now everyone is playing catch-up very sadly 😬
Bernie
@Artemisfornow
Oct 16
No seriously, someone needs to sort this mess out. We’re paying to generate electricity, paying NOT to generate it, and paying AGAIN to replace it. Actually we spent £505 MILLION in balancing costs in September alone! And the annual bill could reach £8 BILLION by 2030! this is not the future of cheap energy 🤡

Oct 16, 2026 · 9:16 PM UTC

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Replying to @EngineerLondon
It wasn't the disaster.
Andrew Neil
@afneil
Oct 18
Then the 70% are wrong. Privatisation of energy was a success. Prices fell. Consumers benefitted. It all started to go wrong when the Tory/LD Coalition relentlessly increased state control of energy in pursuit of net zero. Continued under subsequent governments. The state now has more control over UK energy than it did in the days of the Central Electricity Generating Board! And the remuneration last year of the boss of Gaz de France (now Engie) was €5.5m. Other than that you’re spot on.
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I’ve never claimed it was a disaster. But from an engineering perspective, the glory days of powering the nation were undoubtedly under public ownership, with the investment from and revenues to, the British people. Summarised here by @DowningAm 👇🏻📖 versobooks.com/en-gb/product…
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Replying to @EngineerLondon
"1990 utilities sold cheaply to profiteers" If you were an electricity industry employee at privatisation, were you given the opportunity to be a 'profiteer' by accepting 'Free' shares; the opportunity to buy more as 'Free + Matching' shares (Buy one, get two free); and, the opportunity to further 'profiteer' by buying up to about £1,250 fully paid value of additional shares at a 20% discount from the offer price? Did you / do you, participate in the generous, industry ShareSave employee savings-related share option scheme available in the UK since the early 1980s? [Employees save(d) a fixed monthly amount (from net pay) for 3 or 5 years and then use(d) the savings (plus a tax-free bonus) to buy company shares at a fixed option price (often at a discount of up to 20% to the market price at grant), or simply take/took the cash back.]
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I was at school then. But many tell me the shares were to bribe the workers not to kick off. The unions obviously didn’t want to see electricity privatised. I do know people who remortgaged their houses to get the discount shares. That generation and the one above trained me
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Replying to @EngineerLondon
Any of us power engineers knows that transmission and generation are bedfellows. Stupid choices were made by those who dont understand basics physics
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Replying to @EngineerLondon
The lunacy of building renewables without the ability to move it. Nothing really to do with privatisation. An utter failure of regulation.
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Replying to @EngineerLondon
I wonder if accountants were involved in any of your bullet points James.
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Replying to @EngineerLondon
Bernie and here mates would continue the asset stripping and money grabbing started by Thatcher. It's ironic. At least she has had her hands smacked by the courts for spreading lies. 🤡
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Replying to @EngineerLondon
“Who could have predicted it”? Anyone not ideologically absorbed. Setting an arbitrary time constrained target of any kind will always end in disaster. Our politicians can’t even understand the 2nd order effects of targeted legislation 🤷‍♂️
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Replying to @EngineerLondon
Policy madness is the significant issue
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Replying to @EngineerLondon
10 million more people and you knocked down all the coal plants, it's just left wing planned destruction At least the Soviets pursued nuclear and look how that ended up
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Replying to @EngineerLondon
Please add to your list: Suicidal empathic belief in Global Warming/Boiling, Climate Change Building generation without transmission capability Companies run by daft economists-accountants
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