Thursday October 23rd 2025
Midlothian View reader Bill Kerr-Smith has written this open letter to Midlothian MP Kirsty McNeill.
Dear Kirsty,
I am writing to you today to express my profound concern about the UK’s energy market structure and its direct impact on consumer bills. I believe the root cause of high energy prices lies in the fundamental way the wholesale price of electricity is set.
The current system, known as marginal pricing, means that the price of all electricity is set by the cost of the most expensive unit needed to meet demand, which is almost always gas. Consequently, even when the majority of our power is generated by cheaper renewables—which have near-zero running costs—consumers are still forced to pay a price pegged to gas.
This is not a genuine market. It is an artificial construct that guarantees windfall profits for energy producers, particularly fossil fuel companies, while leading to massive overcharging for households and businesses. The government’s claim that new gas investment is needed to “keep bills down” is therefore nonsensical; bills are high precisely because we refuse to reform this pricing system.
The real barrier to lower bills is not the cost of renewables, but political cowardice. Investment in clean energy is being held back by a pricing model that forever ties its cost to volatile gas prices. The truth is the opposite of what we are often told: the more renewables we build, the cheaper electricity should become. The more we rely on gas, the more we remain exposed to global price shocks.
The government inherited this failed framework. It has the power to change it by:
– Decoupling the price of renewable electricity from gas.
Introducing cost-based tariffs for clean power.
– Bringing strategic grid investment back under public control.
Abandoning clean power targets would be a failure to challenge the underlying market dysfunction, not a reflection of the cost or viability of renewables.
The bitter irony is that the government claims to be acting to keep bills down, while it is the very market rules it protects that keep them high. The UK does not have an energy pricing problem; it has a political economy problem.
I urge you to use your position to challenge this status quo and advocate for a fundamental reform of the energy market—one that prioritises energy security, affordability, and decarbonisation for the long term.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
Bill Kerr-Smith
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