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Energy Minister expresses disappointment in decision.

Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said:

“I am extremely disappointed in Ofgem’s decision to delay yet again the introduction of measures to tackle the long term discrimination against Scottish electricity generators.

“In April 2008 the First Minister and representatives of Scotland’s electricity industry met with Ofgem and presented an unanswerable case for transmission charging reform. It is unacceptable that there is still no change almost six years after widespread political consensus on the need for reform was reached.

“Ofgem has already overseen three years of exhaustive examination of electricity transmission charging and associated connection arrangements, and has had since June last year to analyse the evidence and make its mind up. That there should be not one, but two delays introduced into the decision making process just adds to the uncertainty faced by Scottish generators who are already struggling to deal with the UK government’s slow and piecemeal introduction of Electricity Market Reforms.

“Benefits for consumers are also being put on hold. The changes which Ofgem is delaying would help support the transition to a low carbon energy mix and deliver significant long-term benefits to consumers – cutting bills by around £8.30 a year from 2020 according to the figures used by Ofgem – and help keeping the lights on south of the border.

“We will now look to convene an urgent meeting of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board's grid group to assess the impacts of this latest delay on Scottish generation.”