They have for the most part failed to recruit and support high quality specialists to buy and manage the use of electricity and gas. They have taken the view that energy isn’t really important, like finance or marketing, and can be left to people low-down in the pecking order.

Recent events have proved them very wrong. The Government has introduced legislation which will cap businesses’ carbon footprint at a time when world energy supplies arena longer secure, and gas and electricity prices could spike even higher. Geo-political tensions and the fact that much of the world’s oil supply is in the hands of unstable nations makes for a very uncertain future.

Much of the UK’s fossil fuel and nuclear plant is clapped out, but nothing new can be built until the politicians stop dithering and speed up planning permissions.

This survey of FTSE 500 firms once again reinforces the fact that many CEOs couldn’t be bothered to discuss this now-critical issue and couldn’t wait to pass the query down the line to an energy specialist. But effective delegation involves handing down the power to make decisions.

The CBI assure me when I sit with them on the Business Energy Forum, the government think tank, that energy management has a much higher profile at director level and that there is now real action.

But it ain’t so – the energy managers and procurement specialists I meet tell me there is no major additional expenditure on energy-saving systems and equipment and no increase in budgets for training or additional expertise.

Our new Energy Leaders’ Group will enable experts from large businesses to compare notes on best practice and on compiling strategy reports which boards must take seriously. It must prepare for a rough ride.