LABOUR are “ruling out all options” to reduce Scots' energy bills, John Swinney has said.
It comes after the UK Government shelved plans to introduce zonal pricing last week, instead deciding to retain a single national wholesale price.
Octopus Energy has repeatedly said the model – which would have split the UK into price regions based on proximity to energy generation – would have given Scots some of the cheapest energy in Europe because of its abundance of renewables.
But the Scottish Government has appeared reluctant to fight back against the plans being scrapped.
Asked why, the First Minister was adamant: “The question isn't for me, it's for the Labour Government.”
Speaking at a media appearance in Glasgow on Wednesday, he said: “The Labour Government promised to lower people's energy bills by £300 and they're now up by about £150, and they've just turned their back on zonal pricing.
“So the question isn't for me, it's for the Labour Government. What are they doing? They've got the power to reduce energy bills. What are they doing about it?”
Pressed on whether this means he would support the UK Government bringing in zonal pricing, Swinney responded: “What I'm seeing is that the Labour Government has made a promise to reduce energy bills and the question is for them to answer how they're going to do it now they're ruling out all the options.
“It's up to the UK Government to set out how they're going to lower people's fuel prices. When they've turned their back on opportunities to do so, it's for them to answer.”
Labour energy minister Michael Shanks (above), speaking after the zonal pricing decision last week, admitted there could have been a bill discount for Scots but said it wasn't worth the "trade off".
"If you look purely at one point in time, and look at an analysis of what would have happened to household bills, there would have been a discount in Scotland because we've got a significant amount of renewable energy at the moment,” he told the Daily Record.
"But the other side of that equation is that it would hamper the investment that would be coming in to build that clean power infrastructure in the first place.
"So you've got to have a trade-off here, where there is a theoretical benefit of bill discounts years down the line, but probably an increase in bills in the short term.”
