Electricity prices can have a momentous effect on people throughout all walks of urban life.  The price of electricity impacts the affordability of homes and modes of transportation, levels of energy consumption, economic activity, quality of life, and eco-systemic health.

So the UK Prime Minister has declared he is ‘on the side of the motorist’ in the aftermath of a parliamentary byelection in which the imposition of an extended ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) was a major issue.  Other attempts at controlling traffic movement in towns and cities in the UK through measures such as low traffic zones (LTZs) or controlled parking zones (CPZs) are also meeting opposition, and are being postponed (as in Oxford, Bristol and elsewhere) or abandoned. All this, when the social, environmental and health benefits of lower traffic seem clear, and popular support for environmental action remains firm.