For a company so egregiously engaged in deception on a mammoth scale, SSE have got off almost scot-free in financial terms, and they and their peers know it. Ofgem levied a penalty equivalent to just 0.5% of SSE's annual revenues, demonstrating again quite how toothless and ineffectual the regulator remains.
Energy is the most important issue in the world today and it's getting more important every day. We are living through a period of explosive population growth that will see at least another two billion people added to the global population - currently standing at 7.1 billion - over the next 20 years.
I have recently changed my energy supplier after staying loyal to one of the 'big six' for years. It's not that the supplier needed changing because of a gross lack of quality but, at the same time, I didn't just stay with them because they were particularly great. No, the real reason I changed is because I realised there is an alternative.
Ofgem's figures show that the current cost to UK households of developing all forms of renewable energy, including wind, is less than £20 a year. For less than 40p a week, we can develop a thriving UK-based renewable sector, including wave and tidal energy, which will provide secure, cost-effective and clean energy for generations to come.
The summer holiday season is well underway and thoughts of central heating and the winter should be furthest from most minds. However over the past few days UK consumers ' attention has been turned to energy bills as the fourth of the 'Big Six' largest energy companies in the UK have announced their intention to increase their energy prices.