Official statistics show that in 2024, some 26.8 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity was consumed in Scotland compared with a total generation from renewables alone of 38.3 TWh.
But gas still dominates the GB-wide electricity market, of which Scotland is a part.
And proposals for so-called zonal pricing, which advocates have suggested will give Scottish households the cheapest bills in Europe, were dismissed by the UK government.
The “day-ahead” market runs as an auction with the grid operators buying electricity on an ascending scale starting with the cheapest.
But when the bids are in, all providers receive the same price as the highest bidder – which is normally gas.
Estimates vary but the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has calculated that gas sets the price 60% of the time – although it’s aiming for that figure to be cut to 50% by 2030.
Market confidentiality makes it impossible to precisely say what the cost of electricity would be without gas in the day-ahead market, but a study by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit , externalsuggests that the day-ahead price in 2024 was cut by 25% because of large wind farms displacing fossil fuels and by almost a third in 2025.
Installing more renewable generation and erecting more high-voltage pylons to transmit power around the UK should displace fossil fuels over time.
The UK government has a parallel plan to “decouple” the price consumers pay for electricity from the wholesale cost of gas by, external encouraging older wind farms on to the same terms as newer ones.
The “contracts for difference” mechanism provides a guaranteed price for the electricity, which should mean less of our generation is tied to the cost of natural gas.
