Energy crisis could saddle those in Orkney with double the average bills of other areas

Orkney’s council leader has reacted to the stark prediction that, by April, 96% of Shetlanders could be in fuel poverty.

James Stockan has praised the work done by his neighbouring local authority.

He expects Orkney to be similarly affected by the energy crisis.

On Monday, Shetland council announced that their leader, Emma Macdonald, had written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

She set out the stark predictions contained in a report on Shetland’s household energy situation.

These included the average energy cost per year for a household in Shetland rising as high as £10,300.

This would be around double that of the UK average.

This could leave 96% of Shetland households spending 10% of their income on their energy costs.

Shetland council has estimated that a household in Shetland would need to earn £104,000 per annum to avoid being in fuel poverty.

Even under normal circumstances, their cost of living is anything from 20% to 65% higher than the UK average, the council says.

Understandably these predictions grabbed headlines in Orkney, where it’s expected that the figures will be similar.

Double the bills

Orkney’s council leader James Stockan said: “This is a great piece of work from Shetland Islands Council.

“Those figures are undoubtedly startling and we believe Orkney’s figures could be broadly similar.

“A key issue here is the paradox that exists around the tremendous levels of energy our island communities produce.

“Yet we are on the heaviest end of the current energy crisis.

“This is a disparity brought about by the additional challenges we face in terms of higher charges, our climate, and the lack of mains gas.

“As we’ve been saying for some time now, the system is broken and it badly needs fixed.

Mr Stockan added: “The figures produced should be the wakeup call that the UK Government and Ofgem so badly needed.

“They provide a catalyst for discussion with them at the inaugural meeting of the Islands Forum in Orkney next month.”

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