The latest Scottish House Condition Survey has again demonstrated the urgent need for a significant increase in funding for home energy efficiency, the Existing Homes Alliance has argued today. The figures [1] show that nearly 750,000 households are still in fuel poverty, almost one home in three, with 200,000 households in extreme fuel poverty.
The Alliance welcomes the fact that fuel poverty has reduced by 4%, but this small drop is partly related to lower fuel prices – which is at best a temporary situation. Improved energy efficiency has made a real difference, thanks to government investment, with rates of fuel poverty lowest in the most energy efficient properties. The Existing Homes Alliance [2] is urging Ministers to adopt the recommendation of the Fuel Poverty Strategic Working Group that all homes should be brought up to at least an EPC band C by 2025 [3]. These latest figures show that more than half of Scotland’s housing stock is still below this minimum level, keeping fuel bills unnecessarily high and contributing to ill health and early deaths.
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