High electricity prices matter, beyond the obvious reasons, because households and businesses respond to prices. Put simply, if electricity is more expensive people (and businesses) will use less of it.

Why rip out your gas boiler and install a heat pump if electricity is 5 times more expensive than gas? Why invest in an EV if high power prices mean it is not that much cheaper to run than a petrol car? Why build a massive data centre in Britain if it costs four times more to power it here than in the States? For that matter, why keep your factory open here when you’re spending that much more on energy than your international competitors?

None of these are theoretical concerns. Open AI recently cancelled a major investment in data centres in Britain citing power costs. The list of British manufacturers closing down is long and growing, with 217-year-old Derbyshire pottery Denby the latest, its administrators again citing "soaring energy costs’. EV and heat pump take-up is increasing, but not fast enough to meet government targets.

The problem isn’t just that expensive electricity kills jobs and makes it harder to decarbonise, though it certainly does, it’s that massive investments in pylons, wires, and substations are premised on electricity use growing.

That growth doesn’t seem to be emerging. For the past twenty years, electricity use has been falling. In fact, it’s fallen at a relatively consistent rate of 1% per year (moving up and down a little during economic downturns and recoveries).