Nicola Sturgeon has renewed calls for an energy price freeze as she warned of a “looming disaster” if the price cap rise comes into effect in October. The Scottish First Minister is to convene a crisis summit with the leading energy companies ahead of Ofgem’s latest energy price cap announcement which is due on on Friday.
Household energy bills are set to rise about 80 per cent in October, when the regulator next lifts the limit on how much suppliers can charge, with experts warning average bills could hit £6,000 next April. Sturgeon is to convene a summit with energy companies on improving advice and support for people struggling with energy bills.
The meeting will pull together major energy suppliers, including Scottish Power, OVO Energy, Centrica, Octopus and E.ON as well as industry bodies and anti-poverty groups such as the Poverty Alliance and Energy Action Scotland.
Sturgeon told BBC Scotland: “I want us to come together to call on the UK Government to take the action only it can take. There is a looming disaster that is already unfolding but it is going to get worse. This is going to cause destitution and devastation, this will cause loss of life if real action is not taken to stem this crisis.”
The SNP leader called for a cancellation of the next increase in the energy price cap, and for the financial support already offered by the UK Government to be doubled.
Sturgeon added: “This further increase in people’s energy bills can’t be allowed to go ahead because it is making it impossible for people to provide the basics for themselves and their families, but it is also continuing to fuel inflation, which, of course, is causing the problem in the first place.”
The First Minister said renationalisation of energy companies “should be on the table”, but Scotland did not have the power to do that.
Sturgeon said she had argued for these powers to lie with the Scottish government but they needed to “focus on reality” as it stands now and push the UK government to act.
She said: “Let’s focus on getting them to exercise the powers they have campaigned to keep in their hands rather than constantly deflect the questions to a government that doesn’t hold these powers.”
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