The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

The Scottish Fuel Poverty Statement

4 Fuel Poverty in Scotland

Who are the fuel poor in Scotland?

4.1 The 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey is the primary source of information about the prevalence of fuel poverty in Scotland. The survey is a large, nationally representative study in Scotland in which comprehensive information about both households and their dwellings is collected. For the first time in Scotland, the 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey collected information about the thermal quality of dwellings, so allowing a comprehensive assessment of the nature of fuel poverty in Scotland to take place.

4.2 Using a definition of fuel poverty based on the number of households that need to spend 10% or more of income on all fuel use, the Scottish Household Condition Survey analysis tells us that 738,000 households in Scotland (or 35%) were estimated to be in fuel poverty in 1996. Of these, 178,000 (or 8%) could be described as suffering extreme fuel poverty, requiring to spend over 20% of their income on fuel use.

4.3 Despite the difficulties with obtaining regular accurate data about the numbers of people experiencing fuel poverty in Scotland, the 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey provides a relatively comprehensive overview. However it is also important to note that there may be hard to reach groups or 'hidden' groups of people experiencing fuel poverty - such as those who are entitled to income-related benefits, but who are not claiming those benefits or those who are just above the threshold for income-related benefits.

4.4 Figure 1 shows the proportion of Scottish households of each type experiencing fuel poverty, with 'claimant' in this context referring to those in receipt of Warm Deal eligible benefits ⁴. It shows high rates of fuel poverty across three of the four groups. As the graph shows, the non-elderly, non-claimant group of households was, in 1996, the only type of household in which less than half were in fuel poverty. The actual numbers of households in each group are shown in Table 1, below.

Table1:Fuel poor by household groups: households requiring to spend 10% or more of their income on all fuel use. (Source: SHCS, 1996)

Fuel Poverty and tenure

4.5 The highest rates of fuel poor households in 1996 were to be found within public rented housing, where 50% of all households (or 339,000) were experiencing fuel poverty. The second highest rates of fuel poverty were be found within the private rented sector, where 47% of all households (a total of 76,000) were experiencing fuel poverty.

4.6 The lowest rates were found amongst owner-occupiers, where 24% of households were experiencing fuel poverty, although this proportion does represent a total number of households of 288,000. These trends are shown in Figure 2 and actual numbers in each group are shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Fuel poverty and tenure: households requiring to spend 10% or more of their income on all fuel use. (Source: SHCS, 1996)

Fuel Poverty and energy efficiency of homes

4.7 As well as telling us about the types of people living in fuel poverty, the 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey also provides more information about the type of properties that the fuel poor occupy. One important aspect of this is the energy efficiency of dwellings. Energy efficiency is measured in the Scottish House Condition Survey using the 'National Home Energy Rating' (NHER). This is based on the total energy costs per square metre of floor area required to achieve a standard heating regime. It should be noted that NHER total energy costs include costs for space and water heating, lighting and standard domestic appliances. The NHER of a property is assessed on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being extremely poor and 10 being extremely good.

4.8 As Figure 3 shows, very few of Scotland's fuel poor live in housing with good energy efficiency profiles. The high numbers of people in fuel poverty living in dwellings with 'moderate' ratings reflect the fact that most of the housing in Scotland has such a rating. However it is notable that just under 4% of Scotland's fuel poor live in dwellings with good energy efficiency profiles.

Fuel Poverty and income

4.9 The 1996 SHCS data showed that fuel poverty was strongly related to household income. At that point in time, almost 90% of households with weekly income of less than 100 were found to be in fuel poverty. For households with weekly income of greater than 200, the incidence of fuel poverty was very low. This is illustrated in Figure 4 and the actual numbers in each group are given in Table 3.

Table 3: Fuel poverty and tenure: households requiring to spend 10% or more of their income on all fuel use. (Source: SHCS, 1996)

Improving our information about fuel poverty in Scotland

4.10 More recent data about the prevalence and nature of fuel poverty in Scotland will be collected in the latest Scottish House Condition Survey, which is currently underway. However, this data will not be available until 2003, and until then, it is difficult to assess the extent of the problem and the impact of measures that have been introduced in recent years. Chapter 6 explains how we intend to rectify these difficulties in future years.

« Previous | Contents | Next »