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Sign the Inverness Courier petition demanding the UK government immediately ends unfair higher electricity prices in the Highlands and Islands which have the worst rates of fuel poverty in Scotland


By Val Sweeney

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The Courier has launched its End the Chill campaign.
The Courier has launched its End the Chill campaign.

The Inverness Courier is stepping up its End The Chill campaign to highlight the deepening crisis of fuel poverty in the Highlands – one of Scotland’s worst-affected regions.

We have launched a petition demanding the UK government put an immediate end to the shameful higher electricity charges imposed on everyone living in the region.

It comes as a broad range of organisations have sounded stark warnings that many more Highland households will face a bleak choice this winter between eating or heating amid spiralling energy bills.

Although the region is a powerhouse of renewable energy, households in the north of Scotland pay hundreds of pounds more on their bills than other parts of the country because of outdated calculations based on when electricity was generated by coal-fired power plants in the central belt.

In addition, more than 60 per cent of homes in the Highlands do not have access to mains gas – which is four times cheaper – and have to rely on electricity for heating.

Inverness MP Drew Hendry and Di Alexander, chairman of the chairman of the Highlands and Islands Housing Association’s Affordable Warmth Group, are among those urging people to support the Courier’s petition which calls for a level pricing playing field with the rest of the UK.

Di Alexander.
Di Alexander.

Mr Alexander described the situation as “truly shameful” but one which the Westminster Government had the ability to sort out.

“Energy bills here are already the highest in the UK and well on their way to doubling over the coming months,” Mr Alexander said.

“That means that all of us are going to have to find a four-figure sum more than we paid last winter or go cold – which, I’m very much afraid, is what many of us will end up doing to save money.

Inverness MP Drew Hendry.
Inverness MP Drew Hendry.

Mr Hendry said: “It is ludicrous that we live in an area where we generate electricity through our renewables sector, we pay more than other regions to export that electricity and then have to pay more to use the electricity.

“With the recent energy price hike, it has become urgent that the UK Government take forward measures to rectify this pricing inequity imposed on the people of the Highlands and Islands.”

Alasdair Christie.
Alasdair Christie.

Alasdair Christie, general manager of Inverness Badenoch and Strathspey CAB, said the long-standing unfairness should be reversed.

“Citizens Advice is helping many people who are in severe difficulty with managing their energy bills and associated debt – it is simply wrong that people are presently in a position to choose between heating their home, food and their health it really needs to change,” he said.

Figures show 33 per cent of all households in the Highlands are living in fuel poverty and 22 per cent are deemed to be living in extreme fuel poverty

It comes against a background of spiralling energy costs, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic plus the removal of the £20 uplift to Universal Credit payments.

Highland councillors have also passed a motion calling on OfGem to make sure the north is immediately brought into line with the south of Scotland and that future charges are lowered further to reflect the Highlands are a net exporter of green energy.

The petition can be found at www.change.org/EndUnfairElectricityCharges

Courier launches campaign to fight fuel poverty


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