UK government backs Salmond campaign against National Grid levies

Alex Salmond has received unexpected backing from the UK government on his campaign to impede National Grid from implementing punitive connection charges, which he believes could threaten the development of renewable sources by Scottish power companies. Salmond’s campaign concerns about the costs which are charged on developers for connecting their electricity projects to the power grid.

A six-month talks by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has concluded that charges should be imposed evenly on all energy developers, regardless of the difficulty in connecting theme or where they are located. If imposed, the guideline would mean that remote alternative energy sources, such as the Highlands, would not be charged with the existing high connection costs.

The development comes after a major gathering was called by the Scottish Enterprise Minister, Jim Mather, to resolve the controversy over National Grid’s charges. The announcement has been welcomed by the Scottish government and power companies, who have been disputing that the same charges should be imposed to England-based energy providers transmitting power over the grid.

Currently, Scottish electricity suppliers are charged with much higher transmission fees because National Grid implements a system called ‘locational charging’, designed at encouraging power generators to operate closer to the UK’s main electricity consumption centre located in England. The Times had reported earlier that National Grid is planning to double the charges in northern Scotland.

The UK government’s support was welcomed by SSE and ScottishPower who have been battling with National Grid’s proposals. The Scottish energy firms will have a meeting on Monday with National Grid and Ofgem, where Mather hopes to resolve the issue.