Scotland is moving the Renewables Obligation onto the Consumer Prices Index from 1 April 2026 - a technical change with real‑world consequences for suppliers operating on both sides of the border. Holyrood’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee backed the Order on 6 March, clearing the path for it to take effect next week. (parliament.scot)

For readers juggling energy budgets, the mechanics matter. Every electricity supplier must either present enough Renewables Obligation Certificates - SROCs in Scotland - or pay a cash alternative known as the buy‑out price. The compliance year runs from 1 April to 31 March, and Ofgem runs the scheme day‑to‑day. (ofgem.gov.uk)

What’s changing is the inflation link. Historically the buy‑out price rose with RPI; from April it will track CPI instead. Ofgem has also flagged updates to mutualisation thresholds for 2026 - the back‑stop that shares the cost of any supplier default across the rest of the market. (parliament.scot)

On the numbers, Ofgem’s working shows that using 2025 inflation the 2026/27 buy‑out price would be £69.34 on CPI versus £69.81 on RPI - a 47p gap per certificate. The current year’s figure remains £67.06 until 31 March 2026. (ofgem.gov.uk)

This is part of a UK‑wide move. Following a joint consultation, the UK Government, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive chose an immediate switch to CPI from April 2026. Ministers also confirmed that, from the same date, 75% of the domestic share of RO costs will move onto the Exchequer; Ofgem will publish the final CPI‑indexed buy‑out price and mutualisation levels by 1 April. (gov.uk)

Why it matters in the North: most major suppliers serve customers in Scotland and here at home, so Scottish compliance costs feed into group cost stacks. Because CPI typically runs below RPI, the switch should nudge those costs lower than they would have been - what reaches bills will still depend on each supplier’s pricing and the cap mechanics. (ons.gov.uk)

Scottish Government policy papers add that the change aligns ROS with the rules used in the other UK schemes and aims to share risk between suppliers and generators more fairly. The draft order was laid on 28 January with a planned in‑force date of 1 April 2026. (gov.scot)

There’s a statistical housekeeping angle too. The UK Statistics Authority removed RPI’s National Statistic kitemark back in 2013 because of methodological weaknesses; CPI has become the standard yardstick across government. That context helps explain why energy policy is shifting away from RPI. (ons.gov.uk)

For Northern finance directors and energy managers, the to‑do list is clear enough: refresh 2026/27 budgets on the basis of CPI‑linked RO costs in Scotland, plug in Ofgem’s final figure once it lands, and keep an eye on any mutualisation notices. It won’t set tariffs on its own, but it does move the sums. (ofgem.gov.uk)