Why Scottish Water bills are kicking up a storm
A rise in Scottish Water bills at four times the current rate of price inflation takes some swallowing.Alex Plant, the chief executive, points to Storm Eowyn to help explain the 9.9% rise, on top of the 8.8% increase last year. More severe weather events are coming at us more frequently, he says, and it is the utility firm's job to be prepared.When it fails to be ready, he's accountable, which he cites as one of the justifications for his pay, bonus and benefits, over his first nine months in the job, of nearly £500,000. Unions see that differently, as "eye-watering", and are balloting on industrial action over their 3.4% pay offer.
Eowyn was not a severe rain event, so the worst Scottish Water faced was power cuts to its water treatment plants. The larger ones have back-up generators installed, and smaller ones have temporary power put in place when storms are forecast.When there is a severe rain "event", Scottish Water has more work to do, as it found 15 months ago with Storm Babette leaving Brechin and its water treatment plant severely flooded.Scottish Water, wholly owned by the Scottish government, has avoided the severe criticism and crisis surrounding several privately-owned English water companies, which were generous to shareholders while failing to invest adequately. Prices are expected to go up more sharply there.However, the Scottish utility was found to lack the monitoring of sewer overflow that has appalled England, finding the vast majority of its water courses above acceptable pollution levels. Last year, Scottish Water installed a thousand and this year, it aims to put in 700 more, promising transparency in what these monitors find.
Global average temperatures
Since last month, it has been possible to see the monitors updated hourly. At the time of writing, there have been prolonged overflows on identified river sites near Dunblane, Echt, Perth, Biggar, Coalburn and Linlithgow.The current rate of improved resilience to water and sewerage was set by the Scottish water regulator for the period 2021 to 2027. When that started, there was more optimism that global average temperatures could be contained to 1.5C.There's less of that now, which is likely to be reflected in a renewed assessment of the climate challenge facing Scotland, when the water company publishes its long-term projection of investment needs early next month. That includes heavy rain storms as well as long periods without rain.For the control period 2021-27, Scottish Water has been allowed by its regulator to increase bills by the rate of Consumer Price Inflation plus 2%. Having held back increases in the earlier part of that period, it is now allowed to catch up.The long-term forecast feeds into the 2027 to 2033 period, for which Scottish Water is preparing the case for continued investment, which will be put to its regulator in a year. The regulator's job is to judge how much of that is reasonable, how much of it should be required, and how much more efficient the company should become.Backing up the case for more investment is a new projection for Scotland's population, published on Tuesday. It is on course to rise by a further 300,000 by the decade to 2032, and by 400,000 by 2047.
That means more households requiring water and waste water treatment, while the population is gradually shifting from west to east. Glasgow and its suburbs continue to grow, but much of the growth in Scotland is in and around Edinburgh.Scottish Water has been building a £35m water treatment plant at Winchburgh in West Lothian, where one of the country's largest housing developments is quadrupling the local population. Alex Plant says this is using a new filtration technique and is "almost odour-free".Edinburgh city itself relies on the Seafield water treatment works, not odour-free and run by a private company, currently Veolia, since the 1990s. When that Private Finance Initiative comes to the contract, along with others run under the controversial contracts, there will be a new investment programme required, to upgrade Seafield and cope with the capital's growing strains.
'Good citizen effect'
One way of reducing the pressure on Scottish Water capacity is to reduce the use of water and its discharge into sewers. Alex Plant suggests Scots have a view that water is plentiful because so much of it falls from the sky.But treating it for drinking quality is costly, and so is waste water. So there is a cost to Scots using 40% more water per head than people in Yorkshire.Why? It looks like household monitors make the difference, and there's a pilot project currently in Dundee to find out more. These are not meters for billing purposes, but to show home-owners and the utility company how much is being used."When you monitor people's use, that has an effect, even if you don't charge by the meter," says Plant, suggesting it's a 'good citizen' effect. "We need to have a conversation about what we want to do and how to do it. Let's think about piped drinking water as a precious resource, which we use as we need, and no more."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
24 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Bid to stop taxpayer-backed gas power plant as pollution ratings soar
The Scottish Government's own Scottish Enterprise agency has admitted support for the Peterhead power station project, headed by energy giants SSE, based in Perth and Norwegian government-owned Equinor while it secured a huge slice of a £31m investment into Scotland through the UK Government's Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge Fund in 2021. The allied carbon capture project was as of March the only one being considered so far in Scotland's planning system, and campaigners had believed that its green credentials were an 'environmental con' and had led to major complaints about the Scottish Government's handling of proposals which have been with them since February 2022. SSE and Equinor describe it as a low-carbon power station and said that it could become one of the UK's first power stations equipped with carbon capture technology. Now Friends of the Earth Scotland has said that the Peterhead project must be stopped after new environmental assessments show that lifetime pollution from the site, which includes the power station and the construction works, is set to rise from 6.3m tonnes of CO2e carbon dioxide equivalent) - standard metric used to compare the global warming potential of different greenhouse gases - to 17.1m tonnes. The revelation has reinforced concerns that ministers had been "misled" over the environmental impact of the project. The current Peterhead facility has been generating electricity for more than four decades but it is now the last in Scotland to burn fossil fuels. In 2014, the existing Peterhead power station had been the most polluting site in Scotland for the previous five years. Supporters had said that the new carbon capture technology could slash emissions from the new site by more than 90%. Then First Minister Humza Yousaf appeared in a controversial SSE 'promo' (Image: SSE) The First Minister John Swinney has rejected complaints of 30 alleged breaches of the ministerial code breaches which included former First Minister Humza Yousaf's visit to Peterhead site and a subsequent 'promo' video produced by the developers because he said it was not connected to the proposals they were considering - a document from one of his advisers confirmed there was a direct link. First Minister John Swinney rejected complaints and said Mr Yousaf's appearance in an SSE video and wearing SSE branded clothing at the site of the station project are not related to the planning application. Another complaint surrounded a meeting on April 2022 between First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and Norwegian government-owned Equinor, which has said it will proceed with the development of the controversial Rosebank oil and gas field off Shetland. She was told by civil servants to say that she welcomed 'Equinor's continued investment in Scotland' while the briefing stated that 'the Peterhead site is ideally placed for carbon capture technology...." The latter commentary is identical to that produced in a press statement by SSE and Equinor in 2021. READ MORE: Mr Swinney rejected allegations relating to briefings ahead of meetings saying that their receipt is a "passive act" by ministers. He also said that he was "satisfied" there was no evidence of impropriety by officials providing briefings. Former net zero secretary Michael Matheson was also identified in the 30 'breaches' rejected by Mr Swinney. Environmental campaigners believe the allegations should have been referred to the Ethical Standards Commissioner, the independent regulator appointed by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body or Holyrood's standards committee. There are concerns that the actions of ministers, who are considering whether to approve or reject the plans, show they are a 'foregone conclusion'. Friends of the Earth Scotland's climate campaigner Alex Lee said: "SSE has been forced to admit its plans for new gas burning at Peterhead would be a climate disaster for decades to come. 'This carbon capture con has enjoyed significant financial and political support from Scottish Ministers who have consistently refused to see the evidence of its vast climate pollution. "Ministers have been fooled by the lobbying of this industry and should be embarrassed by their failure to ever properly interrogate the claims of SSE or order a new environmental assessment when concerns were raised. "The climate case for this project was always desperately weak and now it is in tatters." The companies say their plans for a new 910-megawatt gas power station and carbon capture facility at Peterhead will ultimately replace an existing plant and slash emissions. Supporters say the new carbon capture technology could slash emissions from the new site by more than 90%. They say Peterhead 2 would have a system that could capture planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and send them via pipes from the power station to nearby St Fergus - where they would be injected into depleted oil wells under the North Sea about 50 miles offshore. Video: The former First Minister appeared in this SSE video. The Scottish Enterprise expressed support for the Peterhead CCS as the plans were unveiled in 2021 and received financial backing through the UK Government's Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge Fund, which aims to support the development of low-carbon and the transition to net-zero industrial processes by 2040. Scottish Enterprise interim chief executive Linda Hanna said at the time: 'In line with our ambitious climate change targets, Scotland is leading the way on a just energy transition. "Supported by key Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Government policies, the Peterhead CCS Power Station project demonstrates this transition in action. "This key energy site in Scotland is utilising the talent and connections within the industry to support wider industrial decarbonisation and will be a key area of discussion at COP26." But activists have constantly questioned claims from the energy firms involved in the Peterhead project, SSE and Equinor, that the facility could capture more than 90% of carbon burned. The capture process aims to suck harmful carbon from the air as fossil fuels are burned - before it can get into the atmosphere. The gas would then be piped to empty oil wells under the North Sea. A study by Carbon Tracker, the London-based not-for-profit think tank that researches the impact of climate change on financial markets believed the Peterhead project could in fact produce five times more than developers have admitted. The new power station is expected to run well into the 2050s - beyond the Scottish Government's target date for net zero of 2045. And last year, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency raised its own misgivings saying that the overall climate impact of the proposed development was "unclear", and that it has the potential to generate emissions that may be "insignificant now but may be incompatible with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions targets in 2045". Extinction Rebellion Scotland and Glasgow Calls Out Polluters activists who blocked the entrance to the SSE gas power station in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire in protest at greenwashing" policies in 2021 (Image: PA) Alex Lee added: "Even the tripling of its climate harm is likely to be a gross underestimate because of SSE's wildly exaggerated claims about how much carbon it aims to capture. This entire scheme is built on the rotten foundations of carbon capture, which decades of evidence has made clear will not work. 'New fossil fuel infrastructure will lock household electricity bills to the volatile international price of gas and keep people trapped in this exploitative energy system that has produced widespread fuel poverty and climate breakdown. 'The Scottish Government can save some face now by scrapping these plans and investing in climate solutions that we know will work today and improve lives - upgrading public transport, insulating homes and creating green jobs in credible industries with a secure future.' Equinor, which provided around 27% of the UK's gas demand in 2022 has received consent from the North Sea Transition Authority for the development of the controversial Rosebank oil field, which is 80 miles to the west of Shetland and the largest undeveloped oil field in UK waters. The field discovered in 2004, has been estimated to hold around 300 million barrels of oil equivalent with a planned start up date of 2026/27. A spokesman for SSE Thermal said: 'In October last year, and in line with evolving planning policy, SSE Thermal outlined its intention to undertake additional environmental assessments for Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station, specifically regarding the assessment of upstream emissions. 'This work is now complete and has been submitted to the Scottish Government's Energy Consents Unit for consideration. 'The Climate Change Committee, UK Government, and Scottish Government are all clear – carbon capture is an essential part of the technology mix needed to deliver net zero. Evidence and science show that for the UK to reach its climate targets, CCS must be deployed at scale across both power and industrial sectors. 'As Scotland's only flexible power station, decarbonising Peterhead is critical. The proposed new station will provide vital low-carbon flexible backup from the outset of construction to enable more renewables, support the decarbonisation of heavy industry and, create and retain jobs in the North East of Scotland.' A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'It would not be appropriate to comment on a live application. 'A decision will be taken by Ministers in due course, following consideration of the application information, consultation responses and representations made by members of the public.'
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Scotland can be an innovation nation again - here's how
PA This is a chance to write a new chapter—not by erasing the past, but by building on it Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Scotland has led the world before, and it can lead again. Scotland has more world- class universities per head than innovation powerhouses like Switzerland or Singapore. It's the only part of the UK where high-potential firms are more likely than their London peers to secure early-stage investment. And half of the UK's most active angel investor networks are based here. Thanks to decades of effort by businesses, universities, and public agencies, Scotland may be the best place in the UK to start an innovative firm. Mission accomplished, you might think. Wait a while, and the jobs, industries, and incomes will follow. That's how growth has happened before. As the economist David Autor has shown, the jobs most of us do today didn't even exist in 1940. Out with the miners, in with the solar engineers and wedding planners. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But there's nothing automatic about translating headline innovation into broad-based prosperity. Too many Scottish firms, once they reach a certain scale, find they must either sell or relocate elsewhere in the UK or to the US to grow. Dundee University spin-out Exscientia—a global leader in AI drug discovery—moved to Oxford to become Scotland's first biotech 'unicorn'. The bigger problem is structural. Scotland has one of the most lopsided innovation economies in the world. It ranks second globally for university R&D as a share of GDP, yet sits mid-table on private sector R&D. For every pound of public research spending in Scotland, just £1.46 is matched by private investment—half the UK average, and a third of the OECD rate. It doesn't have to be this way. In a new report, Innovation Nation, published last week by Our Scottish Future, I set out a five-point plan to raise private innovation and ensure Scotland's ideas scale at home. I begin with a call for a single plan, shared between the Scottish Government, UK Government and local leadership. There is no 'silver bullet' for policymakers; success will require the careful coordination of reserved and devolved policy levers, as well as local consent and support. That shared set of priorities is far from Scotland's current reality: a spaghetti junction of competing Scottish and UK institutions, impossible for business to navigate and – taken together – less than the sum of its parts. Dan Turner | Dan Turner But a plan for what? Scotland's most pressing problem is not an absence of talent, infrastructure and access to capital. It's that – with a few notable exceptions – it lacks what economists call 'clusters' of similar businesses, all of whom become more productive because they can draw on a shared pool of expertise, workers, supply chains and specialist infrastructure such as lab space or testing facilities. As well as being good for individual firms, these clusters are good for communities: they give firms a strong reason to stay put and invest, rather than relocate elsewhere. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad My second recommendation is for tax and planning reform, capital spending, and political leadership to create five 'Growth Zones'. These would be small campuses, putting major research facilities, indigenous start-ups, and multinational enterprises side-by-side. Scotland already has the first two; the Scottish and UK governments will have to negotiate the third, while local leaders do the hard work of assembling the land, finding the funders, builders and tenants, and creating new economic hubs. To do that, local leaders will need more power, status and – correspondingly – accountability. Following earlier Our Scottish Future work, I call for Scottish Combined Authorities, based on the successful model of Manchester, to cover Scotland's major urban areas. As well as being responsible for the Growth Zones, these Scottish Combined Authorities should play a lead role in connecting the engines of the innovation economy into wider social and economic life on their patch. If we don't make an intentional effort, overreliance on innovation-led growth can make inequalities worse. And that's not just inequitable: it's inefficient. Researchers at Harvard and MIT have shown that we could raise patenting levels fourfold if we could bring talented youths from communities typically left behind by innovation into the labs and research centres. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad And last but not least, any shift in efforts towards building up Scotland's clusters can't come at the cost of stopping – or worse, reversing – support for the universities and early stage investors that currently speaks so much to Scotland's credit. The risk, in Holyrood and Westminster, is that we cut back on innovation funding and cut ourselves off to global talent. Scotland cannot afford to kill its golden goose. The work we do shapes how we see ourselves and the places we live. Scotland's identity is still deeply tied to its industrial heyday—shipbuilding on the Clyde, coal and oil from Fife and Aberdeenshire, medical breakthroughs from Edinburgh. But there is no reason the 21st century can't belong to Scotland too. Indeed, we can see its outline already. Glasgow's former workshops now house Europe's largest satellite cluster and cutting-edge life sciences. Edinburgh's fintech firms are reimagining payment and exchange. Dundee has shifted from jute to gaming and advanced therapeutics. Aberdeen is preparing for its second great energy transition, leading on hydrogen and offshore renewables. This is a chance to write a new chapter—not by erasing the past, but by building on it. Scotland's future industries can honour its industrial legacy: drawing on the same places, the same skills, the same deep pride in work. But to get there, we need to do something new: create jobs in the innovation economy, at every skill level, across the country. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad That is the challenge and the opportunity. To remake Scotland's innovative legacy —not as a monument to past glory, but as a home for modern, inclusive, enduring industry. That's what it means to become an innovation nation.
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Union warns SNP that councils face 'morally compromising decisions' and threatens strike action
Scottish local authorities are being forced into 'morally compromising decisions' as the threat of strike action looms over a pay deal standoff. Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... SNP ministers have been warned funding-starved councils are 'being forced into impossible and morally compromising decisions' amid fears the Scottish Government is overseeing 'sustained and deliberate disinvestment' of local authorities. The 'scathing rebuke' has been handed to Finance Secretary Shona Robison by a leading trade unionist amid anger over pay negotiations for council staff. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Unison strikes planned for two weeks from October 21 involving school support staff in Perth and Kinross mean primary schools will have to close | National World A dispute over pay saw Unison workers take strike action last year, with non-teaching staff in schools in First Minister John Swinney's constituency walking out for two weeks - a move the SNP leader branded 'absolutely unacceptable'. Unison – one of three representing local government workers – is now threatening action again over the proposed 3 per cent rise for 2025-26. A consultation by Unison found more than 92 per cent of its members are in favour of industrial action – with the union citing large council tax rises as one reason why the 3 per cent rise offered is 'effectively a wage cut'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Unison has accused the Scottish Government of treating local government 'as an afterthought', after criticism for 'minimal engagement with trade unions' by SNP ministers since an initial pay offer was made in February. In her letter to Ms Robison, seen by The Scotsman, Susanne Gens, chair of Unison Scotland's local government committee, has warned that 'we are now over two months past the pay anniversary date, with no revised offer and little meaningful progress'. In a stark assessment of the Scottish Government's attitude to funding local councils, Ms Gens insisted that 'for too long, local government has been treated as an afterthought'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad SNP finance secretary Shona Robison She said: 'Since 2013/14, the Scottish Government's Budget has increased by a substantial 45 per cent in real terms. In stark contrast, local government funding has decreased by 0.9 per cent over the same period. 'This is not a minor discrepancy - it reflects a sustained and deliberate disinvestment in the essential services that underpin our communities.' Hitting out at previous positions by the Scottish Government that it is not directly involved in pay talks, Ms Gens said: 'It is simply not correct to say that the Scottish Government has no control on local government pay when its redirection of funds away from local government has had a huge impact on the monies councils have to fund their biggest and most important resource, that being their staff. 'The consequences are severe. Vital services, from schools and care homes to street cleaning and public health, are facing unprecedented cuts. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Councils are being forced into impossible and morally compromising decisions: choosing between adult social care and children's services, refuse collection and licensing, business support and community wellbeing.' The union chief pointed to the Improvement Service's national benchmarking overview reports, adding that 'since 2010/11, Scotland has seen cuts of 39 per cent in street cleaning, 25 per cent in planning and 30 per cent in trading standards and environmental health'. She added: 'Cosla now forecasts a staggering £392m budget gap in 202*/26, rising to a cumulative £780m by 2026/27. This is not sustainable - it is a systemic failure. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'The crisis is further exacerbated by the ongoing cost-of-living emergency, which is driving more people to rely on already-overstretched council services. The pressure on both services and the dedicated staff who deliver them is immense and unsustainable.' The Unison boss warned that 'local government workers have endured over 15 years of austerity, pay restraint, resulting in real-terms pay cuts of up to 20 per cent', in a trend she warned is 'adding insult to injury'. She added: 'The current pay offer fails to address this injustice. It also exposes a troubling double standard. While NHS staff have received fairer settlements, local authority workers - who are equally vital - are being left behind. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Unison members have been forced to take industrial action repeatedly, a clear indication of the hardship they face.' Political opponents have pointed the finger at choices made by the Scottish Government. Scottish Labour local government spokesperson, Mark Griffin, said: 'This is a scathing rebuke of the SNP government's shambolic approach to local government pay negotiations. Labour MSP Mark Griffin | Getty Images 'Year after year, the SNP has treated local government workers with disdain and inflicted strike chaos on local communities. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'There must not be another year of political games and brinksmanship from the SNP on council pay this year – the SNP must work with councils and trade unions to deliver a fair deal from the start.' Scottish Conservative shadow secretary for finance and local government, Craig Hoy. added: 'The unions are clearly not buying the SNP's desperate buck-passing on council workers' pay. Craig Hoy MSP. 'They know, as everyone else does, that the nationalist government has consistently underfunded councils, leaving essential services at breaking point. This is despite increases in its own funding settlement, and ministers imposing the highest income tax in the UK. 'John Swinney must finally accept responsibility for his government's reckless policies and offer local authorities a fair funding deal.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Although the Scottish Government has no formal role in local government pay negotiations, we recognise workers' desire for an agreement to be reached between Cosla – as the employer – and trade unions. 'The Scottish Government will continue to consider carefully how it can support progress towards a fair and affordable deal whilst respecting the independence of local government.'
