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BACKGROUND TO HECA IN SCOTLAND

The Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA) was introduced into Scotland in 1996. This Act designated all Scottish local authorities as energy conservation authorities, each with a duty to devise strategies to achieve significant improvements in the energy efficiency of their respective housing stocks, across all tenures, over the ensuing 10-15 years.

All Scottish local authorities published their initial HECA strategies in 1997. These initial HECA strategies were used as the basis of agreeing individual target improvements in energy efficiency between each local authority and The Scottish Office (now, the Scottish Executive). These targets, which take account of local circumstances and conditions, range from less than 20% to more than 30%.

Local authorities submitted their first HECA progress reports, covering the period between April 1997 and March 1999, to the Scottish Executive in 2000. 1 Scottish local authorities were required by the Scottish Executive to submit the Second HECA Progress Reports in 2002, to cover their activities and progress between April 1999 and March 2001. These reports were required to address specific mandatory topics:

• improvements in energy efficiency
• reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
• policies (if any) for taking personal circumstances into account
• cost of improvement measures.

Local authorities were free to report on discretionary items such as:

• reductions in the oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SOx)
• number of jobs created
• average savings in fuel bills and kilowatt hours of fuel
• improvements in the energy rating of the housing stock.

To assist with the preparation of these reports, the Scottish Executive carried out a general briefing of local authorities at the Scottish HECA Officers Network meeting in August 2001. Additionally, it arranged for the provision of various guidance notes, a calculation spreadsheet and reporting template, and the organisation of a practical workshop in October 2001.

This document summarises the activities, achievements and progress reported by Scottish authorities in their Second HECA Progress Reports.

Overview of Summary of Second HECA Progress Reports

Scottish authorities reported on a wide range of activities and achievements, both mandatory and discretionary in their Second HECA Progress Reports:

• the improvement in energy efficiency
• reduction in carbon dioxide emissions
• their organisational structures
• partnership arrangements
• estimates of expenditure
• policies on personal circumstances
• reduction in SOx and NOx emissions.

An overall summary of local authority progress on the mandatory topics is set out in Annex A of this Summary report.

In some instances, Scottish authorities only reported on the achievements during the 1999-2001 period. In others, they reported on both the incremental achievements during 1999 and 2001, as well as the cumulative achievements since 1997. 2 Where possible in this Summary report, both progress during the 1999-2001 period, and either the change since 1997-1999, or the cumulative impact since 1997, are reported. 3

Not all authorities reported on all of the discretionary items contained in this report, e.g. SOx and NOx, or reported on them or calculated the change in the same way. In these situations, standard coefficients were applied across all local authority figures, or applied to the total reductions in energy consumption, to calculate improvements in the Scottish situation.

Many authorities focused in some detail on practical projects that only contributed to improving energy efficiency, but also contributed to meeting other priorities and commitments, including contributing to international agreements related to sustainable development and Climate Change, improvements to health, tackling social exclusion, and alleviating poverty, particularly fuel poverty. These practical initiatives formed the basis of the case studies reported in this Summary report.

Organisational Structures and Arrangements for HECA

From the beginning of HECA, the Scottish Executive recognised that HECA would not deliver on its targets if it was not integrated into local authorities' existing arrangements, structures and policies. The Scottish Executive encouraged the appointment of an officer responsible for implementing the HECA strategy, inter-departmental working, and partnerships with external bodies. The Scottish Executive encouraged authorities to focus attention on HECA by agreeing a mission statement or making a corporate commitment led and endorsed by elected members and senior officers.

The first HECA Progress Reports indicated that these structures were being put in place. The Second HECA Progress Reports contain strong evidence that considerable progress is being made towards the adoption of these principles by local authorities. By March 2001, a total of 11 authorities had agreed a mission statement as against only one at the end of March 1999. Of greater significance, 25 had adopted formal energy or energy management policies by March 2001, compared with only four at the end of March 1999. The number of authorities with a dedicated HECA officer had increased from three at the end of March 1999, to eight by the end of March 2001 (see Table 1).

The most significant challenge facing authorities in implementing HECA remains the responsibility for promoting energy efficiency measures across all tenures, and not just local authority housing. Only two authorities reported on the estimated impact of energy effiency measures in the owner-occupied sector. It is, however, very encouraging to note that the number of authorities which have established inter-departmental working groups with participation from outside the local authority increased from four in March 1999 to 17 by the end of Match 2001. Further, the number of authorities which acknowledged the need for HECA fitting in with wider corporate frameworks had increased from 18 in March 1999 to 25 by the end of March 2001.

Table 1: Local Authority Organisational Arrangements for HECA as March 2001 (First HECA Progress Report results shown in brackets)

External Partnerships

The Scottish Executive continues to encourage authorities to develop partnerships to deliver energy efficiency improvements both within
their own housing stock and, more importantly, across all other tenures. The Second HECA Progress Reports confirm that around two-thirds of authorities have established formal partnerships with other local authorities, agencies and utilities, as well as with contractors in order
to maximise the level of energy efficiency activity in their area (see Table 2). These partnerships have proved effective in:

• obtaining external funding such as HECAtion funding (an Energy Saving Trust initiative)
• maximising funding from sources such as Scottish Executive's Warm Deal and the Standard of Performance programmes (EESOP) run by the fuel utilities
• promoting grants schemes and discount loans
• providing energy advice, home visits and, in particular, establishing education programmes for primary schools
• promoting general awareness in the community.

A few authorities have gone further and attempted to forge partnerships with agencies and authorities from other countries within the European Union. Only one international partnership (South Ayrshire Energy Agency) was fully operation during the 1999-2001 reporting period. Argyll and Bute was also successful in obtaining EU funding for an energy agency during the 1991-2001 period, but its launch was delayed until after March 2001 due to protracted negotiations with the European Union and its international partners. 4

Table 2: Local Authority Partnership Arrangements
(as at March 2001)

Practical Improvements

The HECA targets to improve the energy efficiency of dwellings will not be achieved without investment in measures to improve the heating and insulation characteristics of the dwelling stock.

Within the Second HECA Progress Reports, the reporting on practical improvements continues to be limited to work in the local authority stock, to some Housing Association work, and to special projects and external grant aided schemes such as Warm Deal, New Deal, and EESOP. Only two authorities made estimates of the general levels of activity in the owner-occupied and private rented sectors, and then used the HECA Spreadsheet to do so.

The Second Progress Reports do confirm that for many local authorities the bulk of their own housing investment programmes are:

• either targeted at improving the energy efficiency characteristics of their own housing (e.g. double glazing, new or replacement heating systems, and external cladding),
• or are for essential remedial work (such as re-roofing) that includes energy efficiency measures.

The rate of progress reported and the proportion spent on each type of measure during the 1999-2001 period remains very similar to that reported for the 1997-1999 period. Cumulatively, since the beginning of HECA, more window replacements in total have been carried out than any other measure. However, during 1999-2001, window replacement was only the second most common improvement. The most common improvement was the installation of a heating system. However, an increasing proportion of the heating installations represent replacement heating systems rather than installing new central heating for the first time. This trend is in-line with other reports from local authorities that their priority is to replace ageing inefficient and ineffective heating systems. 5 During 1999-2001, there was a large increase in the number of dwellings receiving new or additional loft insulation, as well as small increases in the number of dwellings receiving cavity wall insulation and floor insulation, compared to 1997-1999. The number of installations for each improvement completed over each of the two periods is compared in Figure 1.

In the Second HECA Progress Reports, in keeping with the first, authorities also provided information on numbers of completed packages of measures and types of job without actually detailing the improvement. These included:

• 21,972 dwellings receiving a package of measures (25,939)
• 19,156 households benefiting from work under the Warm Deal programme (30,756)

(First HECA Progress Report results shown in brackets)

The reduction in households benefiting from Warm Deal work during the second reporting period may simply be due to a change in reporting as there has been an equivalent increase in the number of dwellings receiving loft insulation which is predominantly a Warm Deal measure.

Figure 1: Number of Energy Efficiency Improvements Completed (1999-2001 compared with 1997-1999)

Energy Advice, Information and Promotion

The Scottish Executive acknowledges that an effective and comprehensive energy advice and information service will be an integral feature of local authority HECA strategies. With the owner-occupied and private rented sectors, these activities will be particularly important given that persuasion is the only direct influence they have over these two tenures. It is therefore encouraging to find that authorities have made a very substantial effort to further develop and extend their information, advice and promotional activities. There has been more than a fivefold increase in the number of households receiving direct energy advice during the 1999-2001 period compared with 1997-1999 (see Table 3). While some of this may be due to more authorities quantifying the effort made in their areas, much of this increase is due to various energy advice, information and promotion projects heralded in the first reports actually coming on stream during 1999-2001 period.

Table 3: Number of Households receiving advice
(April 1999 - March 2001) (First HECA Progress results shown in brackets)

The first HECA Summary report identified that many authorities were working with, and financially supporting, the existing network of local energy advice centres (LEEACS). This support has continued and expanded during the 1999-2001 period. The number of authorities that supported financially and work in partnership with LEEACS has increased from 15 to 21.

In addition, during 1999-2001, local authorities have also extended their support to include other external agencies that have an involvement with the provision of energy advice, information and promotional activities. The number of authorities supporting other energy advice providers has increased from six to 24. The number of authorities that have established their own dedicated advice units has increased from four to eight.

To be effective, as with any commercial advertising campaign, the energy efficiency message needs to be re-inforced by repeating the message over time. Therefore it is anticipated that the numbers of households being targeted with energy advice, information and promotional campaigns should continue to, at least, the levels reported here in the coming years.

The Second HECA Progress Reports confirm the wide-ranging nature of the energy advice initiated by local authorities. These activities have not been limited to the provision of direct advice and information to householders. They included education programmes for primary school children, community energy efficiency sessions, training for tenants groups and local authority staff, promotional activities and leafleting (see Table 4). As with direct advice, 1999-2001 witnessed an increase in the number of school projects, community energy efficiency sessions, promotional schemes for available grants and, in particular, a significant increase in targeted advice projects running in parallel with installing new heating systems. The HECA reports confirm that general leafleting campaigns remain ineffective, but that well-thought-out and targeted campaigns deliver results. For example, one authority reported that there was almost a nil response to a mail shot of 3,500 households, while another discovered that careful targeting resulted in the take up of a grants and loans was such that the funds were exhausted within weeks of the scheme's launch.

Table 4: Energy Advice, Information and Promotional Campaigns April 1999 - March 2001 (First HECA Progress Report's results shown in brackets)

Expenditure on Energy Efficiency Improvements

Total reported expenditure on energy efficiency activities rose from £370 million during 1997-1999, to £499 million for the 1999-2001 period, making a total reported expenditure of some £860 million over the first four years of HECA. As with the first reports, the Second HECA Progress Reports will be an underestimate of the total expenditure on energy efficiency across all tenures. Local authorities have generally only reported on their own expenditure. Some have included expenditure from externally-funded grant programmes such as HECAction, the Warm Deal and the EESOP programmes. A few reported on Housing Association expenditure within their area. Only two authorities estimated expenditure in the private sector, and they did this using information calculated by the HECA Spreadsheet. Few authorities reported costs relating to delivering energy advice schemes. The reported expenditure for the 1999-2001 period follows a similar pattern to that for 1997-1999, with the exception that there is a significant increase in expenditure not attributed to specific measures (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Reported Expenditure on Energy Efficiency (1999-2001 and 1997-1999)

Over the four years expenditure on window replacement represented 25% of total reported expenditure while investment in new and replacement heating amounted to 19%. These two principal measures account for 44% of total reported expenditure between 1997 and 2001. The non-specific measures account for almost 40% over the four years (see Figure 3).

Figure 3: Overall Relative Expenditure on Energy Efficiency (1997-2001)

THE IMPACT OF HECA 1999-2001

In their initial HECA strategy reports, Scottish authorities calculated a baseline position for both energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. In their first reports, local authorities were asked to evaluate the impact of their achievements over the 1997-1999 period against their 1997 base line position. For their Second HECA Progress Reports, the authorities were asked to evaluate both the incremental impact of their 1999-2001 achievements (that is, for the period since 1999), and the total impact of their achievements since 1997.

Improvements in Energy Efficiency

In the first progress reports, the range of improvements in energy efficiency varied between a low of 0.31% to over 6% compared with 1997. The Second HECA Progress Reports indicate a general increase in the rate of improvement in energy efficiency of the housing stock by local authorities. With the exception of one authority, the minimum rate of improvement between 1999 and 2001 was 2%, whereas almost half of all authorities were less than 2% in 1997-1999. Twenty authorities reported rates of improvement over 3% over 1999-2001 compared with nine authorities over 1997-1999. A total of four authorities recorded an improvement in excess of 6% during 1999-2001 as opposed to only one authority during 1997-1999 (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: Comparative % Improvement in Energy Efficiency: 1999-2001 and 1997-1999

Over the first four years of HECA, 25 authorities have recorded a cumulative improvement in energy efficiency of more than 5%. Of these, 10 have recorded an improvement of greater than 8%, and
three recorded an improvement of greater than 10% (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: Cumulative Improvement in Energy Efficiency (%) 1997-2001

From the figures reported by the Scottish authorities, energy consumption across the whole of the Scottish domestic sector decreased by 9.4 petajoules (PJ) over the 1999-2001 period, a reduction of 4.2% (see Figure 6). Overall, since the beginning of HECA in 1997, energy consumption has fallen by 16 PJ, representing a reduction of 6.9% on the 1997 baseline figures. 6

Figure 6: Reduction in Household Energy Consumption in Scotland (1997-2001) (as reported under HECA Progress Reports)

When averaged out across the total dwelling stock, energy consumption declined by 4.47 GJ (i.e. 1,243 kWh) per dwelling between 1999 and 2001. When converted to a monetary value, this reduction in energy consumption represents a saving of approximately £36 per household. 7 Aggregating the total reductions achieved between the start of HECA in 1997 and 2001 demonstrates an average fall of 7.6 GJ in the energy consumed per dwelling, with a value of £61 per household.

Reduction in Carbon Dioxide Emissions

In the first progress reports, the reduction in CO2 emissions varied between 0.53% and 7.49% when compared against the original base figures. The level of reductions in CO2 emissions increased during 1999-2001. No Scottish authority reported a reduction in CO2 emissions of less than 1.5% of their 1999 total. Overall, CO2 emissions fell by between 1.5% and 38.5%, 8 with 30 authorities reporting a reduction of more than 2.5% over 1999-2001 (compared to 26 over 1997-1999).
The number that reported a rate of improvement of more than 6% also increased from three in 1997-1999 to six for 1999-2001 (see Figure 7).

Over the first four years of HECA, over half of the Scottish authorities have recorded a cumulative reduction in CO2 emissions of more than 8%. Of these, 13 have recorded an improvement of greater than 9%, and five recorded an improvement of greater than 10%. At the other end of the spectrum, two authorities have recorded a reduction of less than 3% overall (see Figure 8).

Figure 7: Comparative % Reduction in CO2 Emissions: 1999-2001 and 1997-1999

Figure 8: Cumulative Reductions in CO2 Emissions 1997-2001 (%)

The overall decline in CO2 emissions for 1999-2001 was 0.81 million tonnes of CO2, slightly more than the 0.69 million tonne reduction identified in the authorities' first progress reports. Combining the two periods results in a total reduction of 1.55 million tonnes (i.e. a percentage reduction of 8.9%) between 1997 and 2001 (see Figure 9). Averaged out across the overall dwelling stock carbon emissions fell from 8.48 tonnes per dwelling to 7.71 tonnes per dwelling.

Figure 9: Reduction in Household CO2 Emissions in Scotland (1997-2001) (as reported under HECA Progress Reports)

Personal Circumstances and Tackling Fuel Poverty

Scottish authorities were required to report on policies that took into account personal circumstances when implementing HECA. Personal circumstances may cover a wide range of influences on energy consumption such as income, age, health, disability, family size and responsibilities, ethnicity, and standard of accommodation.

The Second HECA Progress Reports indicate that local authorities are giving personal circumstances more consideration within their HECA strategies. In the first progress reports, 14 authorities stated that they had no policy for dealing with personal circumstances within their HECA strategy, or only recognised their importance; this total had fallen to seven authorities in the second reports (see Figure 10). Tackling fuel poverty was a priority for 24 authorities during 1999-2001, compared with only 16 authorities during 1997-1999. The Scottish Executive is encouraged to note that during the second two-year period a total of five authorities were employing quantified Affordable Warmth indicators to assess the existing level of fuel poverty and the impact of HECA related measures on removing households from Fuel Poverty.

No authority completely ignored the issue of personal circumstances or fuel poverty, but the level of importance varied between authorities (First HECA Progress results shown in brackets):

• 4 authorities recognised the need and importance of tackling fuel poverty but stated that they had no formal policy in place (8)
• 3 authorities stated a public commitment to tackling fuel poverty but did not report on any specific initiatives (6)
• 18 authorities confirmed that tackling fuel poverty was a priority and that their programmes were targeted at the most vulnerable households (12)
• 5 authorities were applying quantified Affordable Warmth indicators to assess the degree of fuel poverty and measure the impact of HECA initiatives on removing household from fuel poverty (1).

Figure 10: Local Authority Involvement with Personal Circumstances

Other Indicators

Local authorities were given discretion to report on the impact their HECA strategies on other indicators. Three particular items mentioned in the HECA guidance were job creation and the reduction of atmospheric emissions of NOx and SOx. As with the first reports, there is a lack of consistency in the approach to reporting, if not a complete lack of reporting by authorities.

A total of 19 authorities reported on job creation during 1999-2001 compared with 17 authorities for 1997-1999. Of these,

• 4 authorities reported that their New Deal initiatives employing 165 people (compared with 13 initiatives employing 265 previously)
• 19 authorities calculated that 2,952 jobs were created either using actual numbers or using employment creation multipliers (compared with 11 authorities and 4,494 jobs in 1997-1999).

The reported expenditure of £499 million on energy efficiency measures during 1999-2001 is estimated here to have supported 12,475 jobs in installation work and 7,129 jobs elsewhere in the economy. 9

In their Second HECA Progress Reports, very few authorities actually reported on the reduction of NOx or SOx emissions. Applying the UK average NOx and SOx emissions co-efficients 10 to the energy consumption reduction of 9.4 PJ achieved during 1999-2001 produces a reduction in SOx of 2,585 tonnes and a reduction in NOx of 1,240 tonnes. Since the beginning of HECA, the overall reduction in energy consumption of 16 PJ represents an estimated reduction of 4,400 tonnes of SOx and 2,111 tonnes of NOx.

Looking Forward

The Second HECA Progress Reports have shown that the Scottish authorities can increase the rate of progress towards meeting their agreed targets. Nevertheless, the rates of improvement seen in
1999-2001 will have to continue, if not increase further, if many of the authorities are to meet their HECA targets.

However, over the coming years they will not be on their own. The Scottish Executive launched the Central Heating Programme in 2001 with the explicit target of installing new heating systems in all Scottish dwellings without central heating by 2006, and in social sector dwellings by 2004. The increased investment and commitment to the Warm Deal will see more money available for insulation schemes for vulnerable households. This money will be complemented with the funding being provided by the fuel utilities under SOP3 and the Energy Efficiency Commitment.

In addition, as a result of the Housing Scotland Act 2001, the Scottish Executive published its Fuel Poverty Strategy in 2002, with its target to eradicate fuel poverty in Scotland by 2016. Local authorities will have an integral role in delivering this target through their own Fuel Poverty Strategies.

It is anticipated that with the now very substantial investment being made in energy advice and promotional initiatives, the establishment of polices and practices that target the most vulnerable households, and investment in central heating and insulation programmes coming on stream that this acceleration will continue apace.

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