Stirling MP urges the UK Government to tackle the broken energy market.
The newly proposed increases on gas and electricity will come into effect April 1 this year, according to financial website This is Money. Electricity standing charges across the UK will increase from 25p per day to 60.1p per day, a 219 per cent rise since 2021. Gas will increase from 27p per day to 31.43p per day, a 16.4 per cent rise.
Stirling MP, Alyn Smith said: “Now wholesale energy costs are coming down, consumers are being hit with sky-high standing charges.”
The Office for Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) oversees this policy area. Smith recently questioned OFGEM’s ability to tackle high energy bills.
Average electricity standing charges in Scotland are said to increase to £216.23 between April and June 2024. This is a huge 138 per cent rise from £90.84 in October 2021 to March 2022.
Scotland’s average gas standing charges will increase by 21.1 per cent. It will increase from £90.81 in October 2021 to March 2022 to £109.94 between April and June 2024.
Smith claims that “the UK energy market is broken”. He doesn’t believe it’s just for Scotland to pay some of the highest transmission charges in Europe, yet our energy costs are sky-high. Westminster has control over our energy resources and our policies. This means if prices are high in England, they must be high in Scotland.
Smith said: “The UK Government must urgently tackle this completely broken market, or hand-over energy policy to the Scottish Government and get out of the way.”
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