Angus MacDonald MP challenges Prime Minister over unfair energy costs penalising people in rural areas 

Inverness, Skye & West Ross-shire’s Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald has today challenged the Prime Minister to end the unfair cost imbalance between electricity and gas bills. This leaves rural and off-grid households not on mains gas paying a disproportionate share for cleaner energy due to environmental tariffs.

With 72% of households in the Highland region not connected to the mains gas grid, this imbalance means that families who rely on electricity for heating - including those using renewable systems such as heat pumps - are effectively penalised for doing the right thing and using cleaner energy.

Mr MacDonald asked the Prime Minister:

“Successive Governments imposed massive environmental tariffs on customers using UK-produced renewable electricity but far less on imported carbon-fuel mains gas.

“This is the main reason why those not on the grid, i.e., those living in rural Britain, pay a great deal more to heat their properties.

“Yes, renewable projects are important, but the huge environmental tariffs on our electricity bills are not fair.

“Would the Prime Minister acknowledge this injustice and commit his Government to addressing this?”

In response, the Prime Minister acknowledged the imbalance and stated that the Government was “exploring options to create a fairer system,” citing the expansion of the Warm Homes Discount and £33 billion investment from SSE.

Speaking after the exchange, Mr MacDonald said:

“Families in rural areas are suffering because they use electricity which is far more expensive due largely to environmental taxes. It’s completely unjust that households in the Highlands are paying more for heating simply because they’re not on the gas grid.

“I will continue to put pressure on the Government and Ministers to make this change for people in rural communities.”

Mr MacDonald’s question follows a Liberal Democrat policy announcement this morning, in which the Party called for the Renewables Obligation to be removed from people’s electricity bills and instead be fully funded by tax revenue raised through our proposed windfall tax on the big banks.

While the Renewables Obligation is only one of several environmental and policy levies, it is currently applied only to electricity bills and not to gas, further widening the disparity.

Mr MacDonald has repeatedly urged Ministers to rebalance energy levies so that the cost of decarbonising the UK’s energy system is shared fairly - not concentrated on those already facing the highest bills. The Prime Minister committed to ensuring that Mr MacDonald continues to secure meetings with Ministers on this topic.