> they don’t don’t produce or supply just pure middlemen They produce liquidity and price discovery, which are extremely important. Most energy companies don't

> they don’t don’t produce or supply just pure middlemen They produce liquidity and price discovery, which are extremely important. Most energy companies don't know what the "efficient" (market clearing) price for power is and also want to mitigate the risks they inherently face by supplying these markets. Speculators allow natural longs like energy companies to hedge risk (reduce their risk) so that they can focus on the things they're good at: building, maintaining and operating power generation and distribution. If you're not an expert trader, which most utility CEOs are not, how can you invest in projects for the next 5, 10 or 50 years without markets that allow you to lay off some of the price risk of the good you're producing (power). This dynamic is what is facilitated by so called middlemen. They are absolutely essential, even if there are spectacular failures like this from time to time.