SNP manifesto: ‘Energy price cap is necessary’

The Scottish National Party (SNP) is copying the Tories and backs a price cap for standard variable tariffs. A pledge in its manifesto the SNP outlines how MPs plan to provide more […]

The Scottish National Party (SNP) is copying the Tories and backs a price cap for standard variable tariffs.

A pledge in its manifesto the SNP outlines how MPs plan to provide more than £500 million of energy efficiency support, reduce the number of people on pre-payment meters and immediately implement the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendations on metering.

Nicola Sturgeon’s party said it will also push for energy companies to prioritise smart meter deployment to those in fuel poverty and help the poor and elderly secure the best value tariffs.

The manifesto voices pride in Scotland’s green energy successes but suggests the nation’s wealth of onshore and offshore potential has been undermined by what it calls the UK government’s “ideologically-driven cuts” for renewables.

It also calls for a regulatory environment which supports investment in new energy storage schemes and carbon capture and storage technology – the party suggests the latter could play a particularly important in decarbonising the oil and gas sector.

The SNP says it will work to prevent the threat of Brexit being used by the UK to reduce its climate change and environmental commitments.

Nicola Sturgeon says she plans to overhaul the UK’s “punitive transmission charging regime”, which she says forces energy generators in Scotland to pay huge fees to connect to the electricity grid, while power stations in the south of England receive subsidies.

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