I thought the reason they were increased is so we could get the same power with reduced supply?
However a fair few power companies are reaching ridiculously high record profits, which goes against the grain of that idea.
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5 years ago you paid $100 a month for all you fossil fuel needs (using round numbers). The oil companies had $100 billion in profit, a record high.
Today you are paying $130 a month for all your oil needs and they are making $130 billion in profits, $30 billion more than their previous record high. It’s spin. They are not making record percentages of profit vs expenditures, just record high profits. Their cost are at record highs, too. They are paying more for wages/salaries, more for resources, more in material cost, etc. Not just that, but $130 billion now has the purchasing power of maybe $105 billion 5 years ago (again, fictitious numbers to illustrate a point) so the record profits of 5 years ago were actually better than the record profits of now.
Politicians like to say “Look at big oil, making record high profits” bc the rubes hear that and think nothing but “greedy assholes, I’m voting for politician X” The big oil companies don’t care bc, insofar as they are publicly traded, they like the news to be “record high profits” bc that makes share holders happy.
The fact is, they are making record profits, but their expenses are also at record highs. This is on the back of them making record low profits during the 2020 pandemic. Their 5 year avg right now is the lowest 5 year profit margin they have had in the last 100 years. Inflation is hitting everyone.
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