Energy firms to force you to reduce consumption
Looks like Alistair Darling is going to introduce some new measures to reduce climate change by paradoxically getting energy companies to encourage people to save energy. Energy companies would have targets to reduce their customers’ energy consumption - clearly not going to be popular with energy companies. They could even force people to put wind turbines on their house according to the interview in the Sunday Independent.
It’s a bold move. I can’t think of an example where any company has in the past been forced by law to get its customers to actually stop buying their products, although there are examples of businesses voluntarily forming organisations to deal with the externalities of their products (Drinkaware trust is funded by the drinks industry). We’ll have to wait and see if it actually happens.