Until now, the distribution network operators (DNOs) have succeeded in staying underneath the radar amid the mounting furore about energy prices.
More than 20 years ago, anti-fat cat campaigners were parading a pig named after the then chief executive of British Gas, Cedric Brown. Since then, the energy suppliers have been in the firing line whenever price hikes have occurred.
It’s easy to see why the focus has been on the suppliers: the names of big six brands such as Npower and SSE appear on bills.
By contrast, the level of awareness about networks is poor. But that could be changing soon following a high-profile intervention in Parliament.
Business, energy and industrial strategy secretary Greg Clark made a surprise re-entry into the energy prices debate last week at his departmental question time, when he called on Ofgem to adopt a “much tougher regime” on network pricing.
He was responding to a question by John Penrose MP, leader of a backbench Parliamentary campaign last year calling for a cap on standard variable tariffs.
Penrose had seized on figures in a recent report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, heavily disputed by the Energy Networks Association, showing that DNOs are making much bigger profits than the suppliers.
And with Labour having pledged in last year’s election manifesto to bring back the networks into public ownership, the DNOs look short of friends at Westminster. They could soon be looking back fondly to when they were overlooked.