The UK Government has insisted plans to slash electricity bills for thousands of families in the north and north-east have not been shelved.
Ministers had been accused of “burying” a project designed to ensure consumers in the area pay no more for electricity distribution than the next most expensive region.
Ex-Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander, who drove forward the plans before losing his seat, also denounced the “deep damage” his former coalition partners were now doing to the Highlands.
But today officials at the Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc) confirmed the policy remained one of a range on the table.
Families in the Highlands and islands, Grampian and Tayside pay the highest bills in the UK because of a regional system for distribution costs.
The P&J’s campaign calling for an end to the “postcode lottery” has won the backing of energy giant SSE, leading politicians and powerful regulators.
At the March Budget, then Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Mr Alexander and Chancellor George Osborne responded by announcing a consultation on the cost of electricity in northern Scotland would be carried out over the summer.
They said 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 consultation did not take place, however, raising fears the new Tory Government was no longer committed to the change.
Mr Alexander, who is to be knighted for political and public service, said the fact “Decc are now burying this idea” showed the Highlands were being let down.
But a Decc spokeswoman denied the cost-pegging project had been buried.
She told the Press and Journal it would be considered as part of a wider regular review into the Hydro Benefit Scheme to be launched at the end of the year. This was established in 2005 to try to ease some of the pressure on north consumers.
She added: “Our top priority is to keep bills low for hardworking families and businesses, no matter where they live.
“This year £57million has been spent to protect billpayers in the north of Scotland from the high costs of distributing electricity.”