Bruce Crawford: "Paying over the odds"

Some areas of England were being charged only �442 - the nationalists claimed.

Mr Crawford, the MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said: "It is simply incredible that consumers in energy rich Scotland have to pay way over the odds for their electricity.

"Scotland currently exports about 26% of the electricity we produce but we end up paying over the odds.

"In effect we produce cheaper electricity for English consumers and end up having to pay for dearer nuclear electricity in Scotland.

Mr Crawford said Scots were paying more because the two main Scottish electricity firms, ScottishPower and Scottish Hydro, had to take expensive electricity from nuclear power stations.

Renewable energy

The Nuclear Energy Agreement requires them to source all their electricity from stations at Torness, East Lothian, and Hunterston, North Ayrshire, until 2005, he said.

Kerr McGregor, senior lecturer in energy engineering at Napier University, who helped produce the figures, said industry watchdog Ofgen were not getting a fair deal for Scottish consumers.

He said: "With the transfer of energy policy to the Scottish Parliament would come the opportunity to establish an independent Scottish regulator.

"This body would take over customer responsibility from Ofgen who are patently not getting a fair deal for Scots consumers.

"Not only are consumers in Scotland being discriminated against but the Nuclear Energy Agreement is also hampering the development of Scotland's massive renewable energy potential in wind, wave and tidal power."

Wind energy: "Hampered"

Mr McGregor said there was no reason why Scotland could not reach targets of producing 50% of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2020.

ScottishPower refused to comment on the figures but Scottish Hydro, which feeds electricity to 640,000 customers in the north of Scotland, said: "Our distribution costs are higher than those in the UK.

"We have to put electricity out to 2% of the UK's customers across 25% of the UK's landmass.

"But electricity prices for Scots have dropped by 24% since privatisation in 1991 and Ofgen has recently confirmed that electricity supply competition is fully established in Scotland.

"Our parent company, Scottish and Southern Energy, has committed to investing �450m in renewable energy and is committed to giving its customers in Scotland a good deal."