Britain's largest energy companies -- and the unions working in them – are telling the government that the lights could be going out in just three years' time unless there is a change in its policy.

Basically, the government hasn't made up its mind what environmental standards it is going to impose on gas and coal power stations. So new investment in plant has dried up. There's no point in building, extending, or upgrading a power station today if the government is going to declare it illegal tomorrow.

And even so, the legislation which the government has been mulling over is the toughest in Europe. And if the rules make UK power stations uneconomic, the large power groups might just conclude that they would be better off leaving Britain to it and choosing to invest elsewhere.

Hence the industry's agitation. But there is another problem that could lead to power cuts in a few years too. The government decided to run down Britain's nuclear capacity. But the idea that wind and wave power can fill the gap is just plain daft. (And many protestors are now pointing out that ugly wind farms in rural areas and the pylons needed to transport their energy are hardly environmentally friendly either.) Frankly, unless we start thinking about new nuclear build -- and clear the planning blight from coal and gas generation -- it's going to be a cold, dark winter in 2008.