While so much was going on in the rest of the world in the 80s, Britain was on a different path. Our first lady Prime Minister was leading the way. She stood strong and proud and inspired part of a generation. On the other hand, there were miners’ strikes that tugged at the heart of the United Kingdom until something gave. Unfortunately, what gave was the energy industry.
This decision has left a sour taste in the mouth of the British people, as very little trust in the industry has led to major complaints and complications. Are the 80s to blame for the problems of today? Did Thatcher’s actions bring on this crisis?
Although a lot of people disliked Thatcher because she privatised industries, she saw a free market economy benefitting Britain as it allowed for more competition and cheaper prices.
Though in today’s world this is not the case, stagnant competition and market domination plagues the industry. The Big Six have been mis-selling and receiving vast amounts of complaints. Are they to blame for our energy crisis? They may have played their part but they are not solely responsible.
So who is to blame for the British energy crisis? Government? Big business? Energy companies? Small business? Domestic consumers?
The answer is that everyone is responsible; Governments for not investing earlier into the infrastructure and giving insufficient thought to the mechanics of privatisation, big businesses for consuming vast quantities of energy and only recently jumping on the green band wagon, energy companies for not investing more, not increasing competition levels and not looking out for the consumer, small businesses for being more price orientated than green focused, and domestic users for not being proactive about how they consume energy.
We are all to blame, but together we can all be part of the solution. Be proactive about how you use energy, invest in renewable, support infrastructure development and above all else be we should all be more thoughtful than we previously were.
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The energy industry: an echo from the 1980s
15 July 2014
The 80s, a decade of social, cultural and economic prosperity, paved the way for the world we know today. The 80s saw great technological advances such as space shuttle Columbia and the first personal computer. There was also the fall of the Berlin Wall, Live Aid, the end of The Cold War and the Chernobyl disaster. CUB (UK) asks: How did it affect energy?