Advertisement
News

Nicola Sturgeon maps out £54.5 million route to ending fuel poverty

The Energy Efficient Scotland plans hope to crack down on heating or eating and emissions by 2040

Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to spend £54.5 million to tackle fuel poverty and slash greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland.

The First Minister announced the plans at the All Energy Conference in Glasgow on May 2 as she launched her ‘Route Map to an Energy Efficient Scotland”, outlining action to be taken to make the country greener by 2040.

To do that, Sturgeon is calling for all homes to be improved to meet an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of at least Band C in a bid to make homes warmer and more energy efficient.

The route map will require private landlords to achieve an EPC rating of Band E by April 2020 at change of tenancy before progressing to Band D by 2022 with all private rented properties needing to achieve Band E by March 2022 and Band D by March 2025 respectively.

Up to £49m of the funding will be allocated to provide energy efficient measures to Scottish households in line with the Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland: Area Based Schemes in 2018/19.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertisement

The further £5.5m will support local authorities with the Energy Efficient Scotland: Transition Programme to expand energy efficiency strategies and cover installation costs for social landlords. The Scottish government has also introduced a cashback incentive to the SME loan scheme, offering cashback on up to 30 per cent of energy efficiency works up to £10,000.

“The Scottish government’s energy efficiency programme will help ensure all our buildings are warmer, greener and more energy efficient,” said the First Minister.

“The major investment in this programme highlights our clear commitment to ensuring that we tackle fuel poverty and reduce greenhouse gas emissions – helping those on low incomes as well as protecting our environment.”

The move has been welcomed anti-fuel poverty charity Energy Action Scotland. Director Norman Kerr said: “We are pleased to see Scottish government set out its plans to eradicate fuel poverty while making Scotland’s homes more energy efficient.

“649,000 households in Scotland are currently living in fuel poverty which is an unacceptably high number of people making a daily choice between heating and eating. We have an opportunity to save lives, to improve lives for households, young and old alike and we must take it.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

SIGN THE PETITION

Will you sign Big Issue's petition to ask Keir Starmer to pass a Poverty Zero law? It's time to hold government to account on poverty once and for all.

Recommended for you

Read All
Will fixing the NHS be enough to save Starmer's government? Maybe. But only on one condition
NHS

Will fixing the NHS be enough to save Starmer's government? Maybe. But only on one condition

Labour wants to shake-up the controversial Right to Buy scheme with these three steps
Labour housing secretary Angela Rayner and housing minister Matthew Pennycook
Right to buy

Labour wants to shake-up the controversial Right to Buy scheme with these three steps

Is a four-day working week inevitable? Latest UK pilot sees 100% success rate
Four-day working week

Is a four-day working week inevitable? Latest UK pilot sees 100% success rate

Over 10 times more women sleeping rough than official stats suggest, report says
A woman on the street
Rough sleeping

Over 10 times more women sleeping rough than official stats suggest, report says

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue