High energy prices are here to stay

The rising cost of producing energy means high oil and gas prices are here to stay argues Max King

Aerial view of a liquified natural gas tanker and a crude oil tanker
(Image credit: © Getty images)

Six months ago, Cornwall Insight, a consultancy that nobody had previously heard of, was forecasting that the energy price cap would reach £6,616 per year.

Mainstream media accepted that without question. In fact, the price cap was set at £2,500 and although the government has said that it will be lifted to £3,000 in April, gas prices have fallen so far that the same firm is now forecasting that the cap will be only £2,200. Gavin Law from the McInroy & Wood division of leading energy consultants Wood MacKenzie remains cautious.

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Max King
Investment Writer

Max has an Economics degree from the University of Cambridge and is a chartered accountant. He worked at Investec Asset Management for 12 years, managing multi-asset funds investing in internally and externally managed funds, including investment trusts. This included a fund of investment trusts which grew to £120m+. Max has managed ten investment trusts (winning many awards) and sat on the boards of three trusts – two directorships are still active.

After 39 years in financial services, including 30 as a professional fund manager, Max took semi-retirement in 2017. Max has been a MoneyWeek columnist since 2016 writing about investment funds and more generally on markets online, plus occasional opinion pieces. He also writes for the Investment Trust Handbook each year and has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and other publications. See here for details of current investments held by Max.