Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Energy price scandal’ means north of Scotland homes pay more for electricity

Post Thumbnail

New figures have exposed the “scandal” that means families in the north and north-east pay more for electricity than anywhere else in Britain.

Official statistics from the UK Government confirm that the area has the highest bills of all 14 regional supply areas across the country.

The annual cost in northern Scotland last year was 7.8% more than the UK average, 10.4% higher than the central belt, and 12.5% more than the cheapest region.

The breakdown triggered fresh claims last night that the market was a “post-code lottery” and should be overhauled.

Electricity bills breakdown by area
Electricity bills breakdown by area

Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru obtained the figures using parliamentary questions amid fury that Wales pays the most, after northern Scotland.

“This is a scandal which cannot go on,” Plaid MP Hywel Williams said.

The party called for the creation of a not-for-profit energy company to buy at wholesale prices and sell directly to consumers.

It has also launched a petition to “register people’s anger at the soaring costs”.

Last October, the Press and Journal launched the Fair Deal on Energy Prices campaign after revealing that the surcharge adds about 2p-per-unit of electricity to bills in the north and north-east.

Since then there have been growing calls for the regional system to be abolished and replaced with a flat, national rate.

The energy and climate change select committee at Westminster last week recommended that the UK Government publish an in-depth study into the proposed change.

Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael gave his backing to the P&J’s campaign on Wednesday, with the Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland calling on the regulator Ofgem to take action.

Kevin Stewart, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen Central, said last night that UK ministers must take responsibility.

“People in the north and north-east of Scotland are being hit in the pocket because of a Westminster energy policy that penalises consumers and electricity producers in our area,” he said.

“The UK Government keep passing the blame on to the regulators when this issue is raised, but there has been failure by successive UK Governments to tackle this inequality, which means larger bills for my constituents and hundreds of thousands of others in Scotland.

“This rip off must stop.”