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Electrifying dilemmas
PETER FROST takes stock of the present options in lighting and heating our homes and running our factories
An aerial view of a solar farm in Hampshire

In Britain today we all take electricity pretty much for granted. Many places in the world still don’t have the luxury of instant light and heat at the flick of a switch.

A century ago, Lenin said of his native Russia: “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country,” showing how important he thought electricity was.

We seem to have two issues around electricity supply in Britain. One is the endless Tory free market nonsense that suggests, if we all swap our supplier every few months, the privtised industry will become more efficient and prices will drop like a stone. Excuse me while I laugh.

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