Opposition leader Ruth Davidson has criticised the Scottish government for not delivering rapidly enough on its pledge to set up a public owned energy company.
The Scottish government’s programme for government, published earlier this week, confirms that Holyrood is pressing ahead with the establishment of a public owned energy company.
It says the Scottish government will be consulting next year on its preferred model for delivering the not for profit company as part of its plans to tackle fuel poverty.
The Scottish government said in June that this consultation would take place “later this year”.
Ruth Davidson, leader of the Conservative opposition in the Holyrood parliament, highlighted the energy company plans as one of the areas where the Scottish government had failed to make progress over the past year.
In the debate on the programme for government, which took place in the Scottish parliament on Tuesday (4 September), she described the government’s plan as “a new state-owned energy company that so far has not produced any energy.”
Davidson called for the Scottish government’s “confused and cluttered” economic strategy to be redrawn with a renewed focus on sustainable energy among other areas.
Her concerns over the pace of delivery on the energy company were echoed by Patrick Harvie, leader of the Scottish Green Party.
He said: “The government is more open than it has been in the past to commitments to the work that needs done to ensure that we have a public rail operator and a public energy company, but we will want to see more detail and a clear commitment on the timing of both measures.”
A study outlining a strategic case for the company, carried out by consultants EY for the Scottish government earlier this year, warned that a public owned energy company would face “challenges” competing with established suppliers.