Why Miliband will back down on energy price plans

Energy secretary Ed Miliband has been quick to try to persuade the mob to put away its pitchforks.

- JOHN RENTOUL

It had been reported that he was considering a plan to vary electricity prices by region - so that bills would be lower in Scotland and northern England, close to wind farms, and higher in the South, where wind-generated electricity is more expensive to deliver.

Cue outrage – and a prompt retreat.

“What I do not want to do is jack up bills in one part of the country in favour of another,” Miliband said. “I’m not going to take a decision that is going to raise prices in some parts of the country. That is not what I’m going to do.”

So it turns out that “will zonal pricing provoke the equivalent of the poll tax riots?” is a classic Question To Which The Answer Is No.