Energy bills: future rises ‘inevitable’ without transition to renewables

As the new Energy Price Cap rise comes into force, climate campaigners have warned that future energy price rises are “inevitable” until we “get fossil fuels out of our homes” saying that only renewable energy run in the public interest can bring bills down for good.

The warning comes the average household energy bills rise by £221 per household – largely due to rising wholesale gas prices due to the ongoing conflict in Iran.  

Over 80% of homes in Scotland use mains gas for heating, whilst burning gas still sets the UK price of electricity the majority of the time. The average energy bill is now £1,862 per year, in April 2021 it was just £1,138 – an increase of 61% in five years.

Quarter of Scots struggling to pay energy bills

Official figures from 2024 show over a quarter of people in Scotland (732,000 households) were struggling to pay energy bills and 357,000 households (14.0%) were in extreme fuel poverty. These figures could worsen as energy bills rise again.

Research earlier this year highlighted that the world’s top 100 oil and gas companies have made over $30 million an hour since the Iran war was started.  Energy firms had already made £125 billion in profits on their UK operations alone since the energy bills crisis started with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Friends of the Earth Scotland just transition campaigner Catrina Randall commented,
“As energy bills are driven upwards again by fossil fuel company greed, people will be rightly worried about making ends meet and what the future holds.   

“Until politicians take the action needed to get fossil fuel energy out of our homes, we will remain vulnerable to price spikes triggered by conflict and disasters far beyond our control. It is inevitable that energy companies will exploit that suffering to make even more obscene profits.  

“When you realise it is the same culprits who are causing record breaking heatwaves and soaring bills, it is infuriating that we are not moving faster to transition to renewable energy.  We need to build an energy system that brings down bills, is based on renewables and run in the public interest.” 

“Millions of people are trapped in leaky homes that increase already high bills. We need to improve people’s homes so that they waste less energy, are warmer in the winter, and bring costs down for everyone.”  

“Burning expensive gas to generate electricity leaves us all more vulnerable to international price shocks like the one produced now by the war in Iran. Families across Scotland will be worried about yet another increase in energy bills due to the global price of gas, so it is mind-blowing that Scottish Government ministers are still considering approving a new gas burning plant at Peterhead.”