COST OF LIVING CRISIS: People living in off-grid homes need more than a 'measly' £100 payment, says Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Drew Hendry in call for greater energy support for Highland households
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The UK Government needs to substantially increase its offer of a 'measly' £100 payment to support homes not connected to the national gas grid, according to a Highland MP.
The call has been made by Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch, and Strathspey MP Drew Hendry who said his inbox is full from people worried sick about energy bills over the winter
According to the House of Commons Library, over four million homes across the UK are off the gas grid.
In the Highlands, over 60 per cent of homes do not have access to cheaper gas heating.
Mr Hendry said off-grid homes, usually in rural areas, face paying more for their heating than households connected to gas because the UK Government had failed to consider these homes by excluding them from the remit of energy regulator Ofgem.
Despite paying significantly higher costs for energy than other households, these homes were only due to receive £100 in tailored support.
Mr Hendry, who has long campaigned for fairer energy for Highland households, brought forward a bill in Parliament earlier this year in a bid to reform the current system and stop energy price discrimination.
Calls in UK Parliament to end unfair energy costs
He has now written to the UK Secretary for State for Energy, Jacob Rees-Mogg, demanding more support be rolled out to help struggling families meet spiralling energy costs, with an immediate rethink of the £100 support on offer for off-grid homes.
"The UK Government’s inaction is destroying lives," Mr Hendry said.
"There are no two ways about it. We used to hear about families who had to choose between heating and eating. Now, depressingly, it’s a choice between starving and freezing. Some folk won’t even have the choice to prioritise either.
"It’ll come as no surprise that my inbox is full of people worried sick about energy bills over the winter, and it’s incredibly frustrating when you have a callous government in Westminster unwilling to act. Because make no mistake, this is a choice.
"I have seen invoices from folk who use alternative heating fuels such as LPG or wood pellets which show an increase in bills of 200 per cent in the first six months of this year alone. What are they supposed to do?
"The UK Government’s measly £100 payment is the equivalent of trying to extinguish a house fire with a water pistol. It doesn’t even touch the sides.
"I have seen successive energy ministers ignore my pleas for reform. Now we are at a time of national emergency, people literally cannot afford to wait any longer."
