Senior politicians are looking at new ways of reducing their carbon footprint in the wake of an announcement that Edinburgh City Council’s energy bills could increase by a staggering £10 million next year.

The stark news will have a serious impact on the spending priorities of the council, with budgetary constraints already heavily restricting the amounts that can be spent on essential services, such as social care.

“In many ways, for consumers the secondary effects [of fuel price rises] can be just as devastating,” warned a spokesman for consumer group Energywatch.

“Not only are the costs of their goods going up, but essential service providers like local authorities are going to have to make some really tough decisions about the provision of their services, because of the enormous rise they are going to see in their energy bills.”

Council officials have announced that they will be producing a report outlining the local authority’s fuel consumption over the past two years, as well as identifying means of energy conservation already in place. Councillors aim to set both short and long-term goals as they attempt to become more energy-efficient, which may involve measures such as the insulation of local authority buildings.

It is estimated that the current gas and electricity bill for all Edinburgh council buildings—including schools as well as properties owned by Lothian and Borders Police and the fire brigade—amounts to approximately £12 million. However, prices are set to soar over the forthcoming year due to inflationary pressure on fuel and fuel-related expenses.

Donald McGougan, the council's director of finance, said: “Current estimates show that electricity costs are likely to increase by 94 per cent in 2009-10 and gas by 70 per cent.

“Together with fuel increases, this could add in the region of £10m to the budget.

“Clearly there will have to be a rigorous approach to energy efficiency in order to offset some of these costs, and this will be an area of focus during the budget process.”

City finance leader, Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, added: “Clearly this is something we're going to have to take even more seriously, and that's why I'll be looking for further information by the time of the next committee meeting.”

Currently, the council runs competitions to secure its electricity and gas contracts. However, councillors are reportedly eager to join the Scottish government’s newly-announced setup, whereby energy is bought in bulk for the whole public sector. The new system promises to save taxpayers' money at a time when energy bills are soaring to unaffordable heights.

Labour finance spokesman, Ian Murray stated that the council would benefit greatly from long-term, fixed-rate energy contracts.

"I don't know if this is possible or not, but I would have thought an organisation the size of the council would be able to negotiate a good deal,” he said. “I'm disgusted that giant energy firms are making hundreds of millions of pounds in profit while everyone else has to struggle along.”