SCOTS who live in rural areas have to pay "over the odds" for consumer services, says a new report.

Shop prices, housing, transport, banking, fuel poverty and internet access are all aspects where they are getting a "raw deal", say Citizens Advice Scotland.

Its report, Remotely Excluded: Barriers Facing Scotland's Rural Consumers, says that while every geographical group of CAB clients faces significant problems, those who live in rural and remote areas are hit hardest of all. The six areas range from Large Urban Areas to Accessible Small Towns and Remote Rural Areas.

CAS officials will today present the report to Scottish MPs as they give evidence to a meeting of the Scottish Affairs Committee in Edinburgh.

The report cites a study by Dumfries and Galloway Citizens Advice Service, which found that food prices in small local towns and villages varied widely, with some more remote areas facing a premium of up to 55 per cent compared to the food prices in the larger towns.

The report adds: "Their findings highlighted that in the poorest and most rural areas of the local authority area where paying more than those in the most well-off urban areas.

"After visiting 38 supermarkets, minimarkets and village shops in South-West Scotland, they found an identical basket of shopping cost £22.26 in Sanquhar ('Remote Rural') and £9.95 in Annan (an 'accessible small town')."

The CAS report says housing costs also vary widely, with many areas of remote Scotland being expensive places to purchase a property, especially for first-time buyers.

It quotes a November 2014 analysis of house purchase prices by Halifax Bank of Scotland, which found that in Scotland there was a £26,000 ‘premium’ on properties in rural areas, meaning that house prices were on average 17 per cent more expensive in these areas than in urban areas.

Heating costs are another area of rural concern, the CAS report saying that households in remote areas can face higher fuel bills to heat their home if they are not connected to the national grid mains gas network.

Around 488,000 households - 21% of Scottish households - are off the mains gas grid. While urban areas are not immune to being off-grid, large areas of Scotland’s rural communities, especially island communities, face being disconnected from mains supply, the report adds.

"An analysis of the distribution of fuel poverty demonstrates that instances of fuel poverty are more prominent for households situated in regions off the mains gas grid," it continues. "Rural properties are likely to be less energy efficient and have been less likely to qualify for support and schemes designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce fuel poverty."

The report also says that one in four of broadband issues that reached advice bureaux came from either remote rural or accessible rural areas. Typically, cases concerned internet connection speeds, frequent network failures, and an inability to cancel due to poor service levels without large exit fees.

CAS consumer spokesman Fraser Sutherland said: “Last week we highlighted the problem of high charges for postal deliveries in Scotland, and how this impacts particularly on people in rural areas. Today we present new evidence showing that this is not the only issue that hits consumers in our more remote communities.

"Rural Scots are being hit harder than average on just about every consumer issue, including shop prices, housing, transport, banking, fuel poverty and internet access - as well as postal delivery charges

“We are certainly not saying that consumers in urban Scotland have it easy, and indeed this report highlights a number of concerns for consumers in towns and cities as well.

"But it is striking how people in more remote areas are getting hit hardest on most of these issues. They are getting a raw deal right across the board."

Citizens Advice Scotland now plans to undertake detailed research into specific barriers and markets identified in the report by talking to rural consumers and its advisers in those areas.