Energy inquiry a significant moment but it will take best part of two years
As energy bills have soared in recent years, consumers have been subjected to an exasperating and at times even tiresome debate.
Politicians have accused the energy suppliers of ripping off their customers and profiteering (sometime in more or less precisely those terms), energy companies have shrugged their shoulders and blamed market forces beyond their control.
In the middle of all this has been the poor regulator. Ofgem has clearly had enough of being called "ineffective".
This morning it has referred the matter to the new Competition Markets Authority to establish "once and for all" whether the prices we are charged and the profits companies make are fair.
This is a very significant moment so by all means be excited but please don't hold your breath because this investigation will take the best part of two years - judgement is unlikely to come this side of a general election.
The stakes here, for the companies in particular, are so high.
The CMA has the power to break-up the 'Big Six' if it deems it necessary. Of course it may not come to that.
Back in 2008, a similar investigation into the way supermarkets do business concluded that there were issues but in many ways we were being rather well served.
The hope is the investigation into the energy industry will similarly sort myth from reality and go some way to restoring public trust in companies that, let's face it, provide vitally important services for us.
Not everyone likes the size of Tesco or the way it sometimes behaves, but there's a general agreement that the jaw-dropping growth it experienced in the 1990s was down, in great part, to its determination to deliver what its customers want.
How many energy companies do you think put their customers at the heart of what they do? We're about to find out. Well, in a couple of years.