And separately, does he believe that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, should that be used as a tool to moderateprice as opposed to just being a stockpile for future emergencies?
But you say that even amoderate carbon tax would not make nuclear power competitive, noting that the price of permits in Europe's emissions-trading scheme implies a social cost of carbon dioxide of euro20 per tonne.
Speaking to Parliament's Treasury Select Committee on Tuesday, Sir Edward said he thought price rises would moderate "to zero, or maybe minus a bit in some parts of the country in the next couple of years".
Typically, jawboning efforts have been undertaken by those seeking to lower or moderateprice pressures, but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his cohorts are putting a novel spin on the technique.
Although the pace of economic recovery is likely to be moderate for a time the Committee anticipates a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability.