Main Street Independent

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Game Theory

How rational players move when each one’s best choice depends on what the others do.

Recent Analysis Articles

Merit-order gas anchoring channels Hormuz-related LNG surge into British steelmakers' industrial bills

Illustration accompanying article: UK steelmakers'' electricity cost gap with
  • UK Steel reports British steelmakers paid nearly £30 per megawatt-hour more for electricity than French counterparts — the widest such premium in three years — and attributes the widening to gas-fired generation setting British wholesale prices during a global gas-price increase UK Steel links to Iran's Strait of Hormuz closure following what the lobby characterised as "Donald Trump's bombing campaign."
  • The British merit-order market clears every generator at the price set by the marginal unit, so the gas-cost surge passes directly into every industrial electricity bill, including those of electric-arc-furnace steelmakers for whom electricity is the dominant input.
  • UK Steel director general Peter Brennan proposed a £51 million annual price cap under which the government would pay the difference when electricity prices rise above a threshold and the industry would pay the government when they fall below.
  • A UK government spokesperson cited existing relief including up to 25 percent electricity-bill reductions for more than 10,000 manufacturers and roughly £1 billion a year of relief for electricity-intensive businesses.
  • Comparisons with France, whose electricity is largely set by nuclear reactors, and Germany, whose mix still leans on coal, locate the gap in the British gas-anchored merit order rather than in any generic European market feature, with approximately 75 percent of UK steel exports worth roughly £3 billion going to European Union member states.
 By Main Street Independent 2026-10-18 · 7 MIN READ

Scrapping the future homes standard would move costs from construction to occupation

Illustration accompanying article: Badenoch pledges to scrap UK future homes standard
  • The Conservative proposal to scrap the future homes standard relocates the cost of low-carbon requirements from construction to occupation, leaving households with higher bills and retrofits above £20,000.
  • The UK Green Building Council says the construction industry has prepared for the standard and must implement it before the next general election, so the Conservative pledge may become largely symbolic.
  • The Guardian’s review contrasts the Conservative estimate of £30,000 for low-carbon new builds with a 2024 installation cost of £5,000–£8,000 and annual savings exceeding £1,300, showing the gap reflects scope and timing.
  • Jan Rosenow, professor of climate and energy policy at Oxford, describes every fossil-fuel home built today as a liability for occupants and a source of investor uncertainty and supply-chain disruption.
 By Main Street Independent 2026-10-11 · 4 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: Election lawyer lays out Senate Democratic