CLIMATE campaigners have reacted angrily to the new energy price cap rise, slamming the "insatiable greed of energy giants".
On Wednesday, regulator Ofgem announced that the energy price cap will rise by 13% from July due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
The jump on July 1 will equate to a rise of £18 a month for the average household using both electricity and gas, with households seeing an increase of 24% on their gas bills and 5% on their electricity bills.
The SNP argued that the latest price cap rise shows that Westminster cannot be trusted with Scotland's energy, with Energy Minister Stephen Gethins saying the increase simply "does not add up" as Scotland is an energy-rich nation, yet pays some of the highest energy bills in Europe.
Meanwhile, an awkward clip of Prime Minister Keir Starmer has resurfaced, in which he pledged prior to the General Election to freeze energy bills under a Labour government.
Climate campaigners have now also expressed their frustration at the price cap rise, with Friends of the Earth Scotland saying that Scots will be hurt as a consequence.
The campaign group said that the public are "paying for the political failure to transition away from fossil fuels" instead of energy giants, pointing towards research from The Guardian which shows that the world's top 100 oil and gas companies have made more than $30 million an hour since the US-Israeli war on Iran broke out.
Yet at the same time, more than a quarter of people in Scotland (732,000 households) are struggling to pay energy bills, and 357,000 households (14%) were in extreme fuel poverty, according to 2024 statistics published by the Scottish Government earlier this year.
Friends of the Earth Scotland said these figures are only likely to worsen as energy bills rise again.
The group's just transition campaigner, Catrina Randall, said: “Household energy bills are being driven upwards by the insatiable greed of energy giants during a time of war and crises. People are paying the cost for the failure of politicians to transition our energy system away from fossil fuels.
“It is infuriating that fossil fuel companies are getting even richer from the hardship people across Scotland will be facing. Despite this, politicians are acting like they’re best pals with these companies, demanding ever more drilling and lower taxes on their obscene profits."
Randall said politicians "need to build an energy system that brings down bills, is based on renewables and run in the public interest".
"We should be the first ones to benefit from the wealth of renewable energy we have here in Scotland, not company shareholders," she added.
The campaigner continued: “Burning expensive gas to generate electricity leaves us all more vulnerable to international price shocks like the one produced now by the war in Iran.
"Families across Scotland will be worried about yet another increase in energy bills due to the global price of gas, so it is mind-blowing that Scottish Government ministers are still considering approving a new gas burning plant at Peterhead.”
She added that while "millions of people are trapped in leaky homes that increase already high bills", highlighting the need to improve people's homes so that they "waste less energy, are warmer in the winter and bring costs down for everyone".
Meanwhile, Uplift – which campaigns for a transition away from oil and gas production – said that people are "fed up with an energy system that sees oil and gas companies rake in billions in profits, while the rest of us are saddled with higher bills".
Uplift deputy director Robert Palmer said: "This is not the first time we have seen the gas price soar off the back of conflict and it won’t be the last. While we remain dependent on gas, a handful of oil giants will continue to get rich at our expense.
"More North Sea drilling will do absolutely nothing to lower energy bills and only make a minimal difference to energy security. After 50 years of drilling, we have burnt most of the UK’s gas reserves."
Palmer said that "politicians need to learn the lesson of the last five years", adding: "The only way to insulate ourselves from these risks is by doubling down on renewables and helping more households and businesses make the switch to clean electricity."
"This is just common sense in today’s world," he said.
