Those who bear long grudges can go all the way back to the North Thames Gas Board, arguably in its time the worst state utility in Western Europe. British Gas has just announced price cuts of 10 per cent - a fraction of the huge fall in the cost of gas since last year, when charges rose by about 45 per cent. The immediate reaction? A mirthless laugh. Once again, the consumer is being ripped off by utilities. For them, exploitation does simply mean finding energy in the ground.

Oh yes, the figures can be glossily presented in the brochures we all received some months telling us why they were “forced” to charge so much more. It's world demand, you see, higher oil prices, the need to conserve energy, the bargains we were still getting. There were all kinds of sweeteners: free loft insulation, competitions to save energy, a free low-energy lightbulb, “personal” advice for each household, the joy of going green, new Nectar points and so on.

But what happens when wholesale prices plunge from 110p per therm last July to 58p a therm today? A 50 per cent cut in our bills? Impossible: think of the need for reserves, think of the winter, think of the Russians...

The energy companies have ways of making you angry even when the price is right. You are bombarded with inducements to “switch”. You're promised huge savings if you sign up to buy electricity from the gas company or gas from the electricity company. I don't want to do that - I want the gas people to supply my gas and the power people to supply my electricity. Why trust one set of rogues with both? And if it's so much cheaper to have dual supply, why can't they simply offer provision of one service at half the dual rate?

I am also infuriated by offers of a “special tariff to suit your needs” - day rates, night rates, bulk supply, low usage rates: there's never a right tariff that would actually make it any cheaper than simply paying for what you use. Why on earth would utilities do that anyway? Are they seriously thinking of ways to earn less profits?

Measuring what you use is another rip-off. Plenty of talk about the “convenience” of estimated readings and standing orders. What this means is the convenience for utilities: no need to send someone round to read the meter each time, no cost and delay in cashing cheques. But the latest wheeze is grotesque: ordering huge rises in direct debits to cover expected higher charges. You then find you are in credit - which sounds good until you realise that the utility has hundreds of pounds of your money (and the interest) which it is in no hurry to refund. Nice little earner.

Regulation, they said, would police it all fairly. Really? We shall see.

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