Energy price cap rise – fossil fuels are costing us the earth

Climate campaigners have reacted to rising energy bills slamming ‘greedy energy giants’ and saying “fossil fuels are costing us the earth.”

The energy regulator Ofgem, who set the price cap, have attributed the 6.4% rise to increasing wholesale costs of gas. Jonathan Brearley, CEO of Ofgem said, “our reliance on international gas markets leads to volatile wholesale prices, and continues to drive up bills”

Campaigners are warning that a new gas burning power station proposed for Peterhead in Aberdeenshire could trap households in this system where bills are dictated by gas markets for another 35 years. Despite the climate pollution it will create, the Scottish Government is considering approving the controversial project which could operate until 2059, well past the 2045 ‘net zero’ target for Scotland.

In 2023 an estimated 34% (around 861,000 households) of all households in Scotland were in fuel poverty, with 491,000 households in extreme fuel poverty. Fuel Poverty Action and Unite Communities have organised protests against the rising price cap in recent weeks.

Friends of the Earth Scotland oil and gas campaigner Freya Aitchison commented,

“Household energy bills are rising once again due to the insatiable greed of energy giants. Fossil fuels are truly costing us the earth.

“Millions of people are trapped in leaky homes and in an energy system that only works for the huge energy companies who are controlling it. The sure-fire way to bring down bills is a mass programme of home energy efficiency and powering our lives with affordable renewable energy that is run in the public interest.

“Burning expensive gas to generate electricity leaves us all more vulnerable to international price shocks like we have suffered in recent years. 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 considering approving a new gas burning plant at Peterhead.”

“Even if new gas wasn’t such an awful deal for consumers, this project should not go ahead because of the enormous climate pollution it will inevitably bring. Building new fossil fuel infrastructure will take us in entirely the wrong direction, undermines a just transition and keeps power in the hands of companies who have been allowed to exploit us for too long.”