Enabling Energy Efficiency

Investing in Grants to Reduce Bills & Emissions

In an energy-rich nation like Scotland, no one should be struggling to pay their energy bills – yet far too many people are struggling with bills still higher than they were this time last year. The SNP in government has spent over £1 billion on supporting people in fuel poverty and making their homes more energy efficient.

The Scottish Government offers a variety of schemes to support people who have difficulty paying their fuel bills or keeping their home warm. These schemes help to increase the take-up of home energy efficiency measures and reduce fuel poverty, while also helping us reach our carbon emission reduction targets.

The Warmer Homes Scotland scheme, for example, has helped many thousands of fuel-poor households across Scotland since it was launched in 2015. The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme also offers homeowners in Scotland a grant, interest free loan, or a combination of both to support the installation of clean heating systems and energy efficiency measures.

For energy efficiency measures such as insulation, grant funding is available up to 75% of the combined cost of measures up to a maximum grant amount of £7,500, while grants up to the same amount are available for the installation of clean heating systems. An uplift of £1,500 is available for rural homes to both the clean heating and energy efficiency grants, meaning rural households can claim up to £18,000 in grant funding.

The SNP Scottish Government has reaffirmed its commitment to decarbonising buildings in Scotland by 2045 in a way that does not exacerbate fuel poverty. The SNP intends to bring forward a Heat in Buildings Bill as early as possible in the next parliamentary session, once there is clarity as regards the UK Government's Warm Homes Plan.

Ultimately, it is perverse that Scottish Ministers should be in the dark about plans related to Scotland’s own energy resources. If we had all the powers of a normal country – including over our own energy resources and market – we would not be in this position.

The SNP also introduced the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH) in 2014. As a result, homes in the social rented sector are now some of the most energy efficient in Scotland, with 85% already achieving EPC D or above, and under SNP proposals private rented homes could be subject to a Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) from 2028 to support efforts to tackle fuel poverty and reduce emissions.

In addition, the Scottish Government delivers the strongest package of winter heating support in the UK, making over 837,000 payments to people across Scotland this past winter - including the Child and Pension Age payments. The SNP can be counted on to continue helping households bring down bills and pushing for the UK Government to introduce a social tariff or social discount of the type modelled in a recent Scottish Government report - which could cut bills by an average of £700 for around 600,000 households - but also, critically, advocating for Scotland to gain full powers over energy policy.