SCOTLAND’S older people cannot wait until winter for government support amid an energy bills crisis, the Scottish Pensioners’ Forum (SPF) has warned.
The forum – the national umbrella organisation representing older people across Scotland – said that news that the energy price cap would be rising in the summer had been met with “profound alarm”.
On Wednesday, regulator Ofgem said the price cap will rise by 13% from July 1 to £1862 a year for the average dual-fuel household – an increase of £221.
The SPF said that the “steep summer increase hits at a time when households traditionally expect to build up credit ahead of the colder months, compounding a broader cost of living crisis that continues to push vulnerable groups below the poverty line”.
The forum warned that the rise “will inevitably widen the poverty gap and trap thousands more Scottish pensioners in inescapable debt”.
SPF chair David Edwards said: “We are witnessing a deeply distressing situation where standard living costs are completely out of reach for a vast number of our older citizens.
“It is unacceptable that in a modern society, our older population must endure the constant anxiety of failing health just to keep the lights on.
“We call on the government to take action appropriate to the needs of those living in poverty, otherwise, with fuel prices set to increase again in the coming year, the poor will need to choose between heating or eating again, to the nation’s shame.”
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has said the power price hike will be “impossible for so many people to absorb”.
It said its network had already seen record levels of energy debt in the first three months of the year, rising to an average of more than £2800, with that figure stretching to more than £3200 for rural Scots.
It warned of the “devastating” consequences of the looming price increase, which has been driven by the US-Israeli war on Iran.
CAS chief executive Derek Mitchell said: “It’s tempting to think high energy costs don’t affect people in the summer. Yet, last summer, we provided over 2000 emergency fuel vouchers across Scotland.
“We can’t go on like this. People need support both now and in the long term.”
Craig Tobin, of Advice Direct Scotland, said that under the new cap in place from July 1, people “will be paying over £700 per year more than they were before the energy crisis first hit five years ago”.
When Labour took power in Westminster in July 2024, the energy price cap was £1568 for an average dual-fuel household. Despite their pledge to cut energy bills by £300, the price cap will be more than £300 higher in July 2026 at £1862.
It will be the highest price cap since January 2024, when Ofgem set the cap at £1928.
On Thursday, MSPs in the new Scottish parliament voted to call for the UK Government to devolve power over energy.
SNP energy minister Stephen Gethins, who moved the successful motion, said that the “track record means that Westminster no longer deserves to keep control”.
However, the UK Government immediately rejected the call for devolution of energy power.
