As the Press and Journal campaign for fair energy prices gathers pace, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey outlines what the UK Government is doing to help consumers.
From Peterhead to Plymouth keeping energy bills affordable is a priority for this government and we are working particularly hard to help remote, rural communities.
The fact is, network costs to remote areas are higher not just in Scotland but across the UK.
The simple reason is that physically getting the power over glen or fen costs more than if you’re next to a power station in Glasgow or London.
I’m adamant that doesn’t mean that Scottish rural consumers should lose out.
In particular, the costs are currently shared across the whole of the GB consumer base, so it adds only a relatively small extra cost to energy bills overall, but makes a huge difference to the Scottish consumers receiving the benefit.
For example, in 2013-14 the Hydro Benefit Replacement Scheme provided about £54million to support 690,000 domestic electricity consumers in the north of Scotland, protecting them from the higher costs of distributing electricity.
The cost of the scheme is spread across Great Britain’s 30 million consumers, costing households on average less than £1 a year.
On top of this the government has delivered £50 of savings to consumers’ bills by reducing the cost of our policies.
This includes a £12 rebate for every customer in the country, which is being automatically deducted from bills this month. Those who pre-pay will get a £12 voucher they can redeem when they next top up.
Additional support is also provided to those who need it through schemes available across the UK such as the Energy Company Obligation, Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments.
What is also important is that everyone is getting the best deal possible for their energy.
That is why we are reforming the market to break the stranglehold of the “Big Six” energy companies and increase competitiveness.
The number of new suppliers has now nearly tripled since 2010, meaning customers have more choices to switch than ever before.
The result is that more than two million customers have shopped around and changed to independent suppliers in the past four years.
And while we’re helping cut bills we are also ensuring that Scotland has the critical infrastructure needed to keep the lights on.
Scotland is set to benefit from investment of up to £6billion between 2013-21, nearly 30% of the total earmarked for upgrades across Britain.