Almost half a million Scots say power bills are eating into spending on food

Almost half a million people in Scotland have cut back on food spending to afford energy bills, according to a report.

Research for Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) by YouGov shows around 36% of people find their bills unaffordable. Some 54% of these people are cutting back on household spending, with 56% of these specifically cutting back on groceries.

Based on the latest population estimate for Scotland of people over the age of 18, this works out to 483,255 people.

CAS is releasing the figures as part of its Big Energy Saving Winter campaign, which encourages people to seek advice to manage soaring energy bills this winter.

CAS chief executive Derek Mitchell said: “This shocking analysis lays out the reality of the cost of living crisis in Scotland today. An estimated half a million people are cutting back on their weekly food shop to afford soaring energy bills, and this should have alarm bells ringing.

“We’ve seen a perfect storm this winter.”

Meanwhile, a whistleblower has claimed call handlers working on behalf of Scottish Power are told to threaten customers with debt enforcement – even over mistaken bills.

He said colleagues had also raised concerns.

Scottish Power has ordered an investigation.