Guido Camps, a former executive of Levi Strauss and chemicals and textiles group Domo, is the director of energy pricing at the Commission for Regulation of Electricity and Gas (CREG), the independent regulator of the energy sector. He joined the organisation in 2000 when it was first set up. CREG is who the power companies come to, as Eandis did earlier this month, for approval of a price increase. CREG is also mixed up in the debate about what to do about the huge gains made from nuclear power stations by Electrabel, the largest energy producer in the country, now owned by the French GDF-Suez group.

Belgium's nuclear power stations have now been entirely amortised, which means that the costs have been paid by the electricity consumer. Electrabel was the monopoly supplier when that was being done, and the company's operation of the plants, at virtually no capital cost, is a substantial competitive advantage in a now-liberalised energy market. Electrabel is essentially producing nuclear energy using tools paid for by the taxpayer. In the meantime, the consumer has seen little or no downward effect on prices. The government wants to recoup some of the huge earnings now flowing into Electrabel's French-owned coffers - but how huge are they, exactly? That's the big question that last week led to Camps' ultimatum.

Electrabel claims its profits from nuclear power amount to no more than €652 million for 2007. CREG puts the figure substantially higher, somewhere around €2 billion. Currently, the National Bank is making its own calculations to determine where the truth lies. If that calculation leans towards Electrabel's version, Camps said last week in an interview with De Standaard, "then I've lost all credibility, and I'd better resign."