When politicians mention "capping energy bills", that means trying to cap final consumer tariffs. What I mean by "price-cap" is a regulatory model which determi

When politicians mention "capping energy bills", that means trying to cap final consumer tariffs. What I mean by "price-cap" is a regulatory model which determines how governmental contracts for public utility might be written. It's also called the "RPI-X" regulation model. It does not determine final consumer tariffs directly, but instead establishes a maximum revenue per KWh for the regulated firms. And this model has been in place in the UK's transmission and distribution sectors since 1990. Also, you cannot choose who distributes energy to you. If you could, the sector wouldn't even need regulation. But you can choose who supplies that energy. These are two different sectors, and they're regulated in different ways. The distribution sector is a natural monopoly, while the energy generation sector isn't.