Nicola Sturgeon has warned that the next expected increase in household energy will cause 'destitution and devastation' and said it 'can't be allowed to go ahead'.
Ofgem's latest energy price cap announcement will be made on Friday.
Scotland's first minister is to convene an emergency summit with energy companies on improving advice and support for people struggling with energy bills.
She has called for a cancellation of the next rise, which is expected in October and a doubling of the support being offered by the UK Government.
She said re-nationalisation of energy companies 'should be on the table' but said Scotland did not have the power to do that.
Scotland's major energy suppliers, including Scottish Power, OVO Energy, Centrica, Octopus and E.ON, will attend, as well as industry bodies and anti-poverty groups such as the Poverty Alliance and Energy Action Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show: "I want us to come together to call on the UK government to take the action only it can take.
"There is a looming disaster that is already unfolding but it is going to get worse.
"This is going to cause destitution and devastation, this will cause loss of life if real action is not taken to stem this crisis."
Ms Sturgeon added: "This further increase in people's energy bills can't be allowed to go ahead because it is making it impossible for people to provide the basics for themselves and their families, but it is also continuing to fuel inflation, which, of course, is causing the problem in the first place."
Ms Sturgeon said she had argued for re-nationalisation powers to lie with the Scottish government but they needed to 'focus on reality'as it stands now and push the UK government to act.
She said: "Let's focus on getting them to exercise the powers they have campaigned to keep in their hands rather than constantly deflect the questions to a government that doesn't hold these powers."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel