Danny Alexander has accused the UK Government of “burying” plans to slash electricity bills for thousands of families in the north and north-east.
The ex-chief secretary to the Treasury claimed his former Conservative coalition partners were doing “deep damage” to the Highlands by abandoning the work he did in office.
He spoke out after it emerged that ministers have privately shelved a project designed to ensure consumers in the region no longer pay more for power than every other region in Britain.
A year ago the Press and Journal launched a campaign calling for an end to the “postcode lottery” distribution system – and has won the backing of energy giant SSE, leading politicians and powerful regulators.
Former Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Mr Alexander and Chancellor George Osborne responded at the Budget in March by announcing that officials would carry out a consultation on the cost of electricity in northern Scotland over the summer.
They said that from next year they planned to peg the costs paid by consumers to those in the second most expensive region in the UK, saving each household in Grampian and the Highlands and islands an average of £30 a year.
The move was widely welcomed as a first step towards a fairer system.
But the Press and Journal understands that the consultation was not carried out and that the UK Government is no longer committed to the change, following the election in May.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) would only say that electricity prices would be considered as part of the regular review of the Hydro Benefit Replacement Scheme, which was established in 2005 to try to ease some of the pressure on north consumers.
Mr Alexander, who had driven forward the plan before losing his seat to the SNP’s Drew Hendry in May, has been left furious by the U-turn.
He said last night: “This shows the deep damage being done to the Highlands without Liberal Democrat MPs and without Lib Dems in charge of Decc.
“I pushed this review through to address rapidly an unfairness in electricity prices in the north.
“That Decc are now burying this idea shows, once again, how the Highlands are being let down by the combination of Tory Decc ministers and impotent nationalist MPs.”
Councillor Angus McCormack, chairman of Western Isles Poverty Action Group, said: “This is very disappointing from the point of view of consumers in the north.
“It only adds to the fact that the wholesale prices have been dropping in electricity in recent months and there has been no reaction to that.
“All SSE have done is flatline prices and what we are looking for is to reduce the prices and their arguments against that have been diminishing over time.
“They (the big six energy suppliers) have huge profits and they should be passing on these benefits to the consumers and to hear that the UK Government is not going through with their plans is very disappointing.”
Families in the Highlands and islands, Grampian and Tayside pay the highest bills in the UK because of a regional system for distribution costs.
Asked whether it was carrying out the consultation and changes announced in the Budget, a spokeswoman for Decc highlighted the existing Hydro Benefit Replacement Scheme.
“We are committed to supporting hardworking families and businesses across the country to keep their bills low,” she said.
“This year we have spent £57million to protect bill-payers in the north of Scotland from the high costs of distributing electricity.
“We will be launching a public consultation at the end of this year to ensure our funding scheme provides the right amount of support for bill payers.”
The government is required to review the Hydro Benefit Replacement Scheme subsidy every three years.