Conference season usually produces lots of gossip and very little in the way by way of significant policies.
But Nicola Sturgeon made a bold pledge during her speech at the SNP gathering in Glasgow today, promising to establish a public energy company by 2021 to compete with the big private providers.
Energy would be bought wholesale…and sold to customers as close to cost price as possible
Scotland’s First Minister said the body would be run as a not-for-profit, using renewable energy.
“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 said. “No shareholders to worry about. No corporate bonuses to consider.”
Although Scottish Labour accused Sturgeon of lifting their idea, a publically-owned energy company was floated in the nationalists’ last manifesto.
FM: “By the end of this Parliament – we will set up a publicly owned, not for profit energy company.” #SNP17 pic.twitter.com/UXV6OsmTAx
— The SNP (@theSNP) October 10, 2017