Nov. 28 2023

Found: Living in an energy inefficient home is costly, and households experiencing fuel poverty face dif ficult

Mentions:
1: None energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes. - Speech Link
2: None energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes. - Speech Link
3: None would reduce the amount of energy needed by households, which could mitigate the impact of fuel poverty - Speech Link
4: Simpson, Graham (Con - Central Scotland) efficiency standards, and that could deal with the fuel poverty issue almost overnight, which would - Speech Link
5: None energy efficiency improvements. - Speech Link

S6W-26819

Asked by: Briggs, Miles (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Lothian)

Question

Answered by Martin, Gillian - Minister for Energy and the Environment

Private rented homes have a poorer standard of energy efficiency and the tenants who live there are usually unable to make improvements. That’s why our consultation on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill asked for views on private rented homes reaching a good standard of energy efficiency before the end of 2028.

Our Private Rented Sector (PRS) Landlord Loan Scheme – launched in April 2020 – offers landlords interest free or low interest loan funding to support the installation of energy efficiency, clean heating and renewable systems. The scheme offers funding of up to £38,500 per property, including £15,000 for energy efficiency measures, £17,500 for the installation of clean heating and renewable systems, and up to £6,000 for the installation of energy storage systems.

The main aim of our Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH) when introduced ten years ago was to remove poor energy efficiency as a driver for fuel poverty. The sector also has a role in achieving our climate change targets which require net zero heat in buildings by 2045. This is why we have recently consulted on proposals to establish a new Social Housing Net Zero Standard.

We are making £200 million available up to 2026 to support the installation of zero direct emissions heating systems and energy efficiency measures across the social housing stock.

S6W-23999

Asked by: Lennon, Monica (Scottish Labour - Central Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of households that will be experiencing fuel poverty during winter 2023-24.

Answered by McLennan, Paul - Minister for Housing

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides a snapshot of the domestic housing stock in each survey year, including the construction age, built form and energy efficiency, as well as estimates of fuel poverty.

As the 2020 SHCS was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic and results from the 2021 External+ SHCS were published as experimental statistics the 2019 SHCS provides the most recent official statistics on fuel poverty.

Due to the increases in global energy prices in 2022 and 2023 and the lack of recent data on fuel poverty from the SHCS, we have produced scenario modelling of fuel poverty rates This is based on uprating modelled fuel bills from the 2019 SHCS in line with more recent energy prices and accounting for the other support available to households. We estimate that from January 2024, with the price cap for the typical dual-fuel household paying by direct debit at £1,928, and including the impact of the Cost of living payments [1] , that around 840,000 (34%) households in Scotland will be in fuel poverty. Of this around 570,000 (23%) will be in extreme fuel poverty.

Table 1: Estimated number of households in fuel poverty January 2024 to March 2024

Jan. 18 2024

Found: Grant/service level agreement for delivery of Fuel insecurity Fund: FOI release