ENERGY giant SSE is urging the UK Government to introduce a national system of electricity pricing to ensure households are paying the same regardless of their location.

Alistair Phillips-Davies, chief executive of SSE, has written to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey, urging him and his department to consider the merits of a move away from the present regime of regional pricing.

He said his letter followed "media and political interest," particularly in Scotland, in the fact that all electricity suppliers face different costs for transporting electricity to different parts of the country, so charge varying prices.

There are currently 14 pricing regions across the British electricity market and customers in the Highlands and Islands pay two pence a unit more for their electricity than do other parts of the country.

The Western Isles Poverty Action Group (PAG) has recently described this as a national disgrace, given the Outer Hebrides have the highest fuel poverty figures in Scotland.

In his letter, Mr Phillips-Davies writes that companies operating in areas such as northern Scotland are "always going to face larger costs per customer because these are large land masses with diverse terrain and remote housing."

But he said that under national pricing, power companies should not lose out.

"The network companies would receive the same income for their necessary maintenance and investment work, but the costs would be spread across all regions, resulting in an end to this. This would make things far simpler for customers by reducing tariff complexity, as well as addressing these public concerns.

"To make these changes requires legislative or regulatory change. I hope that you will consider this issue."