The 13% rise in the energy price cap announced today will be devastating for thousands of households across Scotland, according to Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS). 

Responding to the announcement, CAS Chief Executive Derek Mitchell said: 

“This huge rise in the energy price cap is going to be impossible for so many people to absorb. Especially the tens of thousands of people who we know are already struggling to heat and light their homes.  

“In the first three months of 2026, our network saw record levels of energy debt, with the average amount over £2,800. More than £3200 in rural areas.  

“Debt has a devastating impact on peoples physical and mental wellbeing, forcing people to ration their energy use, meaning people are sitting in the cold and dark.  

“It’s tempting to think high energy costs don’t affect people in the summer. Yet last summer we provided over 2,000 emergency fuel vouchers across Scotland. 

“We can’t go on like this. People need support both now and in the long term. Ofgem needs to urgently deliver its long-awaited debt relief scheme and crisis support must be inclusive of those with unavoidable high usage, like disabled people, as well as those on low incomes. 

“The UK Government must act with urgency and ambition to deliver a social tariff for energy - that’s a discount unit rate for those on low incomes and unavoidable high energy usage to guarantee energy affordability. 

“Energy should not be a luxury. In a just and compassionate society, all of us should be able to afford to heat and light our homes.”  

Today CAS published its latest quarterly briefing on energy, which includes case studies. This has been sent to UK and Scottish Government Ministers. 

ENDS