FUEL poverty has risen for the first time in five years in Scotland, with new figures showing 619,000 households are affected by the problem.
Scottish Government data for 2018 – the most recent year available – showed one in four households (25%) is struggling with energy costs, up from 23.7% the previous year.
Housing Minister Kevin Stewart conceded the figure was “unacceptably high” but said the government’s efforts to tackle the problem are ongoing. Ministers are due to publish a strategy later this year setting out actions to tackle all the drivers of fuel poverty, he said.
Stewart added: “By the end of 2021, we will have allocated more than £1 billion since 2009 to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency to make homes warmer and cheaper to heat.”
READ MORE: Citizens Advice Scotland in new push on power bills over fuel poverty
The statistics were revealed in a new report on the state of Scotland’s housing, which showed three-quarters (75%) of all homes needed some kind of repair, regardless of how minor, a rise of seven points from 2017.
While the number of households in fuel poverty – defined as when a household has to spent more than 10% of its income after housing on energy – increased from 583,000 households in 2017, there was a drop in extreme fuel poverty.
This is when 20% or more of income, after housing costs, goes on an energy bill. There were 279,000 households in this category in 2018, down 14,000 from the previous year.
The Scottish Government has passed legislation committing ministers to cutting fuel poverty to 5% of households by 2040 and reducing extreme fuel poverty to just 1% by then.
Stewart said: “Making sure everyone has a safe, warm place to call home is central to the Scottish Government’s drive for a fairer and more prosperous Scotland.
“It is encouraging to see the number of households in extreme fuel poverty is steadily falling but numbers still remain unacceptably high, which is why we introduced the Fuel Poverty Act, passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament last year.
“It is the most ambitious and comprehensive fuel poverty legislation in the UK, setting us on a course to eradicate fuel poverty and provide greater help for people who need it most.”
Shelter Scotland said it was “concerned” by the rise in the latest figures. Director Graeme Brown said: “It is shocking to think that a quarter of households face a struggle to keep their homes warm and put hot food on the table in a wealthy nation such as ours.
“While some progress has been made on the housing conditions people face, hundreds of thousands are denied their basic right of a warm and healthy home.”
More than a third (36%) of those in fuel poverty were households with at least one person over the age of 65, while 15% were families with children.
Some 43% of those struggling with energy bills were owner occupiers, with 41% living in social housing and 16% in the private rental sector.
Jamie Stewart, Citizens Advice Scotland’s fair markets spokesman, said: “Every year the Citizens Advice network in Scotland helps tens of thousands of people with energy-related issues, with many of them dealing with unaffordable energy costs coupled with living in homes which are hard to heat.
“The first step in tackling fuel poverty must be to help those struggling to keep their homes warm.
“That’s why we want the Scottish Government to commit to doubling spending on energy efficiency in the upcoming Scottish Budget.”
Labour housing spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: “Fuel poverty is a blight on our society and an outward symptom of wider societal inequality.”
LibDem energy spokesman Liam McArthur added: “The upturn shows that there is no room for complacency from ministers.”
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