Forget rising juvenile crime, globalisation or climate change. According to a recent poll, it is rocketing electricity prices that are topping Germans' list of concerns for 2008.

Germany was a pioneer when it opened its power market 10 years ago. But unlike in the telecommunications sector, liberalisation has not brought cheaper electricity. Indeed, prices have risen so steeply that some economists are beginning to consider the opening a textbook example of botched liberalisation, and one that could put Germans off privatisation for years.