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They could of nationalised it, instead the Government are left holding a business that no one want's to buy but stuck pumping money in to hold it in zombie mode, Government rules also mean Bulb aren't allowed to hedge currently so they are now even less attractive to buy and are costing the tax payer more than they should to administer
greentricky-
Government rules also mean Bulb aren't allowed to hedge currently so they are now even less attractive to buy and are costing the tax payer more than they should to administer
To be honest, I think that government's policy on hedging is pretty sensible and has avoided them getting ripped off by bankers peddling exotic financial products. One of the fundamental attractions of government ownership of volatile assets is that they have an enormous balance sheet and can handle these risks.
Of course, it's easy to get the crystal ball out in hindsight and say that they should have predicted a set of circumstances. But if it was all so predictable, who would have sold you the insurance?
Like insurance, financial hedging incurs costs in circumstances where the government may in principle be able to bear the risks and could usually do so more cheaply. It is also important to bear in mind that there are some risks that only the government can bear, and that these may be impossible to hedge at tolerable cost
NickCJ
That cash is mostly going straight back to consumers to honour fixed-rate tariffs and keep their bills down... I thought that's what people wanted?