BUSINESS leaders will warn ministers that power prices have now soared to levels at which the profits of many firms will be wiped out and some companies will be driven to the wall.

The Scottish Council for Development and Industry accepts that the surge in oil and gas prices is largely the result of issues affecting global supplies and UK taxation over which the Scottish politicians have no control. However, it wants the Scottish Executive to recognise their impact in Scotland and do what it can to ease the resulting burden on firms today and in the future.

At a meeting with Alan Wilson, deputy enterprise minister, SCDI executive committee members will urge him to take up the concerns of Scottish firms with Gordon Brown, the chancellor, and to do more to help them minimise energy use.

"The executive clearly has a role in articulating the concerns of Scottish business, promoting energy efficiency and developing a sensible long-term energy policy for Scotland, " said Iain Duff, SCDI chief economist.

With world-wide competition for energy set to increase in coming decades the executive and UK government must not close off potential sources of supply such as nuclear generation or open-cast coal.

The effects of high energy prices were vividly illustrated last week when TT Electronics said it was ending manufacturing at Prestwick Circuits, the printed circuit board manufacturer, which employs 264 in Irvine.

In June, Prestwick's managing director, Derek Mansfield, told The Herald he had cut his energy usage by 17-per cent in the past year, yet energy costs had still more than doubled in the past two years from GBP470,000 to GBP950,000.