Gillian Martin, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, made the claim in Holyrood on Tuesday.
Pressed on whether the SNP had plans to “revive” the proposals – which were first announced by the first minister Nicola Sturgeon in 2017, she told MSPs: “We looked at what was required in terms of the legislation around that, it is not something we are able to do at the moment with the current devolution settlement.”
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But Common Weal have said that the claim is based on a “limited reading of a law” and that Martin’s comments amount to “an excuse for inaction”.
The Scotland Act does technically prevent the Scottish Government from “owning, generating, transmitting or storing” electricity.
“On the face of it, [this] would prevent a national electricity company,” Common Weal outlined in a briefing paper.
“However, it should be noted that the law is blatantly not fit for purpose as a pedantically strict reading of the law also appears to make it illegal for the Scottish Government to fit solar panels to the roof of its buildings, run wires from those panels to the light fittings or to own a set of AA batteries in the stationary cupboard.”
(Image: PA)
Craig Dalzell, the head of policy and research at Common Weal, told The National that there are also numerous other options the Scottish Government could be taking within the current devolution settlement.
This includes setting up a national heat company since, while the Scotland Act prohibits the national public ownership of electricity, it doesn’t prevent a state-run company for other forms of energy.
Common Weal details that a company such as this could generate, store and transmit heat via district heat networks and could be powered by a variety of sustainable energy sources such as solar thermal panels or geothermal sources.
Public owned electricity could also be achieved through local authorities, the think tank argues – which the Scottish Government could then fund directly (or via the Scottish National Investment Bank).
Another option outlined by Dalzell is that local authorities could pool their resources and launch a national energy company jointly owned by all of Scotland’s 32 councils.
They also suggest establishing a national mutual energy company – which is technically a private company but its shareholders are limited to adult residents of Scotland who all receive one share each.
Dalzell also highlighted a poll recently commissioned by The National which found that the vast majority of Scots (81% to 19%) believe the Scottish Government should own part of any new renewable energy developments in Scotland.
“This is a wildly popular policy, it’s almost unopposed by the Scottish public. The idea of public energy is supported by a majority of parties in the Scottish Parliament. SNP members have voted for it twice overwhelmingly at conference,” he said.
“So there’s not just no opposition to do this, there’s a mandate for the Scottish Government to actively explore doing this, to actively push for it.”
The Scottish Government have been approached for comment.