Sullom Voe oil and gas terminal [image credit: shetland.org]
The climate hasn’t got colder, so something else has to take the blame. How did a place on the doorstep of various gas and oil fields, and even touted as ideal for wind power, get itself into such a state?
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Some 96% of residents of the Shetland Islands could find themselves in fuel poverty by next April, according to a local official, who issued a stark warning about the future of the archipelago, reports Sky News.
Despite Scotland supplying much of the UK’s gas, islanders must earn a salary of £104,000 to avoid slipping into fuel poverty, according to the Leader of Shetland Islands Council.
The estimated average energy cost on the Shetland Islands will rise to £10,300 per household by next April, with the vast majority of residents spending 10% of their income on energy bills.
A unique confluence of factors push the cost of living in Shetland to double that of the UK: a much colder climate, coupled with poor insulation and a lack of cheaper energy options such as mains gas.
“Our islands have been at the heart of oil and gas activity for over forty years, yet our people have not seen the benefits of that in terms of a lower cost of fuel,” said council leader Emma Macdonald.
Full report here.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
What happened to their scheme for using wind generation to heat water?
Sounded good to me. Intermittent output from the 3 turbine farm to heat large tanks of water while electricity was supplied (as usual) from diesel generators (some located in the photo’d installation).
The hot water would be circulated through the houses thus reducing demand for electricity (and CO2 emissions). It being very windy (and cool) in Shetland and with much of the population in Lerwick and Scalloway the piping would be short.
Deals with the intermittency of wind with storage, and some variation in the temperature of the hot water would have minimal effect in the houses.
Since Scotland is drowning in wind energy, you’d think that they would be connected up and being paid to use electricity, given it is so ‘cheap’.
[…] Shetland Island residents must earn £104,000 to avoid fuel poverty next year, warns official | Tall… […]
The price of martyrdom.
Shetlands had an oil fund once, but ‘the Shetland Islands Council in the 1970s…were not so smart as to see beyond 2000, when it was assumed the oil would have run out. So that’s when the payments stopped.’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-27138927
(2014 story)
Global warming in Shetland Islands!
Just a few pensioners to freeze to death. The greentards’ plan is working.