Sturgeon proposes cheap, state-owned energy for Scotland

Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to set up a state-owned energy company in Scotland to offer cheaper power to homeowners, as she seeks to restore her battered party’s confidence.

 Nicola Sturgeon speaks on the final day of the SNP conference in Glasgow. 

Seizing on a policy pushed by Scottish Labour, the first minister said power from the publicly owned energy company would be sold as cheaply as possible.

“Energy would be bought wholesale or generated here in Scotland – renewable, of course – and sold to customers as close to cost price as possible,” she told the Scottish National party conference in Glasgow on Tuesday. “No shareholders to worry about. No corporate bonuses to consider.” 

It was one of a series of populist policies aimed at bolstering her party’s appeal to leftwing and rural voters.

Read Severin Carrell’s story on The Guardian -  “Sturgeon proposes cheap, state-owned energy for Scotland.”