UK blackouts raise questions over private sector’s right to profit from power

Energy network companies are under scrutiny after last month's outage, the worst of its kind in a decade

There is never a good time for a blackout, but for Britain's energy companies the timing of last month's power failure could scarcely have been worse.

The best that the owners of the UK's energy pipes and wires can expect in the coming years is a tighter squeeze on their deflated profits by the industry regulator. A Labour government could support nationalisation. In the meantime, investors are turning their backs on energy network companies.

Why did multiple failures cascade through the system following a single lightning strike?