Nicola Sturgeon has said the Scottish Government will pass on "every single penny" of extra cash it receives from Westminster to ease the cost of living crisis.
People across the country have been left stunned today after energy regular Ofgem announced that household energy bills will soar by £693 per year from the beginning of April.
A total of £290 million of funding is expected to come to Holyrood from the UK Treasury as a result to offset the huge rise in energy bills.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is to offer households in England a rebate on their council tax bills funded by government grants to help with rising bills.
But as the Chancellor has no oversight of local government funding in Scotland, a lump sum, based on the Barnett Formula, will be added to the Scottish government block grant.
Speaking at Holyrood just moments after Sunak's announcement, Sturgeon said: "The Chancellor has announced welcome steps to help mitigate that - but steps, in my view, do not go far enough.
"They seem to offer around £350 worth of help against energy bill increases of around £700.
"I also don't know what the position on consequentials will be - but I give a commitment here that every single penny of them will go in Scotland to helping people deal with the cost of living crisis.
"There is one issue we will have to deal with because part of the Chancellor's announcement was for rebates in council tax.
"Of course, average council tax bills are already significantly lower in Scotland.
"And one of the other differences is, that due to decisions made by this government, around 400,000 people in Scotland don't pay any council tax, because we have a council tax reduction scheme that can offer up to 100% relief.
"So we will have to consider how to help those people because they still have energy bills that are rising."
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: "Today OfGem announced an inflation busting energy price increase, that will cause pain and distress for hundreds of thousands of people across our country.
"Across Scotland, people will be wondering where they are going to find the extra £693 to keep the heating and lights on; just months after bills rose by £139.
"But Scotland has two bad governments who would rather play politics with the cost of living crisis than take action.
"In the SNP we have a government lacking in ambition and failing to use the powers of this Parliament.
"A Government that stands with energy companies making £27,000 a minute, and not with people struggling to pay their bills.
"The SNP have refused to use the powers of this Parliament to top up Winter Fuel Payments.
"They have refused to back Labour’s windfall tax on energy companies. And they have refused to stop rises to rail fares and water charges.
"The SNP – siding with the Tories and big energy companies, while Labour – on the side of hard-pressed Scots
"People are struggling right now, the First Minister must stop commentating on the cost of living crisis and start doing something about it."
Liz Smith, the Scottish Conservative spokeswoman on finance, said: "Rishi Sunak and the UK Government have taken a big step toward tackling the cost of living crisis with these measures. Now the SNP must act urgently.
The new money for Scotland must be passed onto local councils and the tax cut matched pound for pound.
"The SNP has no excuse to avoid passing on this funding boost from the UK Government to working people across Scotland."
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