After Great British Energy, the Welsh Government has decided to consult on its own version, soon to be followed by Slough Energy and West Barking Energy. Probably.

The consultation sets out proposals for a single “national” public energy company, bringing together existing energy organisations, but the new company would not replace existing energy suppliers or directly set household energy prices.

If that sounds a bit vague, to be honest so did Great British Energy, and although ‘devolution’ is the buzzword of the week, how it would connect to the national project is unclear.

Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy, Adam Price, said: “Wales has huge potential to generate clean energy from our natural resources. We want to make sure the benefits of that energy are felt by people and communities across Wales, both in jobs and growth but eventually in lower bills too.”

It brings back memories of the SNP’s plans in Scotland. In 2017 it pledged to set up a public not-for-profit company. In that case the then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wanted to buy wholesale energy from Scottish suppliers and sell it at near cost price to consumers.

The scheme was quietly dropped, and the reasons never revealed for its disappearance, but a strong guess is that it crashed into the twin realities of complexity and cost.

---