Energy companies and how we feel about them

In Mallen Baker's recent blog post about energy companies, he discusses the public perception of the ever-increasing profits in today's energy marketplace. Are energy industry profits legitimately 'excessive' or is it mere populism? His conclusion is that energy companies "have made excessive profits when society decides they have made excessive profits." The main reason is lack of competitiveness in the energy marketplace which looks like this: "switching providers is a pain, and very few people do it. The tariffs are confusing, and people don't understand the price signals."

This brings to mind my father's take on two energy companies - the private electricity provider, Union Fenosa Moldova, and the municipal heating provider - Termocom. He believes that each of these have one major goal only - to rip him - and other simple citizens - off and use the money to build fancy office buildings and drive expensive cars. This attitude is rather widespread among Chisinau residents. Needless to say, despite my dad's dislike for his electricity and heating provider, there are no real alternatives.

Personally, I'm pleased with the UF service because I find it much better than what other two (state) electricity enterprises have to offer. Termocom's problem, however, is different: since it's still publicly owned, it is extremely poorly managed which causes its all other problems. I would mention another important player in the Moldovan energy marketplace: the almost all-Russian MoldovaGaz. The tarifs for its services have been steadily going up but, interestingly, it still manages to operate under the radar of public contempt.