UK Labour Calls for Investigation into Power Trading Behavior

The UK government should investigate whether power trading firms are manipulating the country’s electricity markets to boost their profits, former Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband said.

Miliband, now his party’s spokesman on climate change and energy, was responding to a Bloomberg News investigation published Thursday exposing how some of the UK’s power companies are using an off-on tactic — saying they will switch off their plants ahead of expected peaks in demand, only to then agree to keep them running in exchange for significantly higher prices to fill the shortfall.

Ed Miliband

Photographer: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images

The maneuver, which has racked up £525 million ($647 ...