The utilities sector is one of the most politically sensitive and while the majority of companies would expect to find their latest announcements in the business sections of the national newspapers, utilities tend to find themselves plastered on the front page. Politically, escalating utility prices for consumers has made this a hot issue for the government and opposition, with Labour promising price freezes if they win the next election, while the government has reduced carbon taxes on energy firms in an effort to force prices down. Water companies are in the middle of negotiations that will plan their levels of investments and prices for five years. Meantime, in June the regulator Ofgem referred the energy industry to the competition body, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), to investigate the market.
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