The Scottish Government has used the fact that nearly a third of households are suffering under fuel poverty as justification for establishing a new publicly owned, not for profit energy company.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon revealed plans to look into the option during her speech at the party conference earlier this week.
She pledged to establish the publicly owned energy company before the end of the current Scottish parliament in 2021.
More details are expected to be released in the government’s forthcoming energy strategy.
The Scottish Government said such a move was needed due to the high number of people in fuel poverty and rising prices.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The fact that 31% of Scottish households were in fuel poverty in 2015, largely due to rising fuel prices, shows that the energy market is failing many households.
“We are developing plans for an energy company that will support our efforts to tackle fuel poverty and help to achieve our ambitious climate change targets.
“Our new Energy Strategy is scheduled to be published by the end of the year and we will bring forward more details on the company at that time.
“We are aware of several social enterprises operating in this market. Our focus is to provide consumers with low cost energy and we are committed to doing so via a publicly-owned energy company.”
Recommended for you
