Capgemini's annual European Energy Markets Observatory, published last week, highlights generation and supply problems in the utilities sector, and describes the current situation as "critical".

It found that the gap between European electricity supply and demand fell to a record low last winter, placing many countries at risk of interruptions.

Polestar group financial controller David Slater said: "We saw energy prices go up quite dramatically, which was related to the problems with the supply of natural gas to Europe."

While gas supply issues have been alleviated in the UK by the recent opening of the Norwegian Langeled pipeline, electricity generation remains a problem.

The findings are likely to anger printers, who have faced annual energy price rises in the region of 50% for the past several years.

Garnett Dickinson group managing director Nick Alexander said: "Our energy prices have gone up a lot and it's a major cost pressure for our business. The fact that this situation has been allowed to develop makes you pretty disappointed."

CPI Group UK joint managing director Mike Taylor said: "Clearly the government has been dilatory in considering the supply issue on power. There's been a move to cut coal-fired generation and a political reluctance to accept the inevitability of nuclear."

Capgemini blamed the situation on a rise in energy consumption, coupled with years of underinvestment in new power stations.

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