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I think the complexity is that it is not the consumer facing energy companies that are making the mass profits, they are buying on the open market for massively high prices which they are passing on to consumers. The mad profits are being made a stage earlier by the companies who are producing the energy, hence the taxing of them.
If they don't allow the energy cap to go up, there will be a whole load more energy companies that go under, leaving us back with a oligopoly, who could then eventually price manipulate in the future if wholesale energy prices do come down.The only way they could not raise the enrgy cap would be to top up with payments to the energy companies, but that would be politically suicide I suspect, so it is better for them to give money to the end user, even if it costs the same and has the same effect in the long run.
The answer is of course to go back in time and not privatise...
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Sam_w
NotThamesWater
Why doesn't the government just tell/legislate OFGEM that it can't raise the energy cap a) at all, or b) more than inflation?
It seems the windfall tax just takes some ££ from the energy companies and they just put the prices up so it all flows back to them. Same with the 5p petrol thing - prices went down a bit (though not 5p round us) - and then carried on going on up again with the fuel companies pretty much pocketing the cash as far as I can see.