Dr Liz Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) has warned that Scottish businesses are being placed under “enormous” pressure by the rising cost of energy.

Ahead of the UK Government Autumn Budget, Dr Cameron has written to the UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak MP, calling for the introduction of a Small and Medium Enterprise Energy Price Cap to protect Scottish businesses from the increasing price of gas and electricity ahead of the winter months.

One Scottish hotel group, The Caithness Collection, which operates across the north Highlands have reported a potential rise of £53,170 per year in electricity costs as they move to a new contract, the equivalent to a 70% increase on their current yearly bill.

An SME Energy Price Cap could include firms transferred to new providers to strengthen the ‘reasonable costs of supply’ limit at present, and firms locked into enforceable multi-year contracts.

Whilst the current domestic price cap(s) came about following a prolonged CMA investigation, SCC has asked the UK government to look carefully at the introduction of an SME energy price cap as quickly as possible.

SCC secured coverage of this call on Sunday evening’s STV News bulletin, on-line across a range of news sites including BBC Scotland and on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme earlier today.

Links to a selection of the coverage is available below.

BBC

STV