Forres Extinction Rebellion highlighting links between the cost of living and "unnecessary" high energy prices at Grant Park today
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A local protest group is highlighting links between the cost of living crisis and unnecessary high energy prices at Grant Park today.
Forres Extinction Rebellion (XR) will unveil a banner proclaiming 'Cost of Living Crisis = Climate Crisis' at 11am, and invite people to talk about the challenges of making ends meet in the midst of the squeeze on family budgets driven by the cost of fuel and power.
Local member Sean Lusk highlighted the fact that Shell have just announced profits of £8.5 billion for just the past three months, while BP announced £7bn for the same period.
He said: "The UK Government has announced a price cap on the average household energy bill of £2500 until next April but this is to be paid for through our taxes and cuts to our public services.
"This, when fossil fuel companies are making money through our hardship while at the same time destroying our planet through carbon emissions."
He added: "There is another way - Scotland can be a net exporter of renewables and fast. But we need to force the fossil fuel companies into making the right investments."
The Energy Price Guarantee scheme is not a cap freeze but a payment deferment mechanism, whereby the energy price still goes up, but the UK Government pay the increase meantime.
Energy prices are increasing because governments continue to invest, through loans and subsidies, in fossil fuels. Stopping this will bring down energy prices, reduce air pollution and reduce CO2 emissions.
XR member, Julia Tucknott, added: "We want to encourage everyone in Moray to write to ourr MP, MSPs and local councillors to encourage them to apply pressure to both the Scottish and UK Governments to oblige fossil fuel companies to divest from oil and gas and invest in the green future - wind, solar and green hydrogen. Shell and BP and the rest won’t do it without legislation.
"Rishi Sunak cannot go to COP27 proclaiming himself the champion of net zero while granting new oil and gas licences - it’s pouring our good money into dead technology and it has to stop."
As the amount of clean renewable energy (from wind) in Scotland increases every year, it is becoming cheaper to produce. However, electrical prices are still increasing as they are determined by the international price of natural gas which has risen drastically over the last six months.
A recent study by Energy Systems Catapult and Octopus Energy claims that by introducing variable local electricity pricing systems, consumers in the UK could save £30 billion by 2035. Those in Northern England and Scotland would see the highest savings on their energy bills due to the large amount of energy generated from local wind farms.
Licences for offshore wind farms in Scottish waters have been recently issued to generate 25GW per year. Scotland only uses around 5GW of electricty per year, so within the next 10 years the country will become a major exporter of renewable electricity.
