Highland Council demands grid changes amid soaring fuel poverty in the region despite huge levels of energy generation
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Shocking levels of fuel poverty in the Highlands have prompted Highland Council to demand action to deliver a fair electricity distribution system.
By some counts as many as 70 to 90 per cent of people in parts of the region are unable to heat their homes properly due to the cost of electricity, despite the huge levels of generation across the region from hydro to wind farms.
Anger has been mounting that power that is produced in the Highlands is exported south only to be rerouted north again and charged at a higher price – leaving residents of one of the coldest parts of the UK unable to heat their homes.
Sutherland councillor Richard Gale and Culloden and Ardersier councillor Trish Robertson brought forward an amendment to a full meeting of the council last week which received unanimous cross-party support.
The motion called on the council to recognise its own poverty and inequality data that large areas of the region have more than 70 per cent of households living in fuel poverty while Citizens Advice Bureau statistics indicate it as high as 90 per cent in some places.
The local authority committed to writing to the Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth Kwasi Kwarteng to back a cross-party Early Day Motion to: “Replace the current electricity distribution system with one that replicates that of gas and telecoms and share the cost of energy distribution equally across the UK.”
Caithness councillor Struan Mackie said: “Energy policy across the UK is broken and the regional distribution charges debated at the Highland Council is clearly creating a gross unfairness for those living closest to renewable energy production.
“It is an utterly unacceptable and untenable position that local residents pay more for electricity generated locally than for those who have exported it out of the region into our urban centres.
“Whilst some of my constituents tell me that they are choosing whether to heat their homes or eat, wind farms are paid millions not to generate electricity.
"The grid is hopelessly out of balance and significant infrastructure spend must be focused in this area.
“I fully support efforts to replace the distribution system with something fit for purpose but addressing the unfairness in regional distribution will not offer an instant silver bullet for those in fuel poverty.
“Tinkering around the edges with energy policy will only yield short-term results and kick the can down the road. We need a radical rethink, and the Highland region can lead the way."
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