Charity details what needs to be done to combat fuel poverty in Scotland
A final demand has been issued to the Scottish Government to end fuel poverty.
Earlier this month a conference heard how ministers would fail by some margin to reach targets set for 2016 to eradicate the problem which affects one in four Scots households.
Energy Action Scotland has now written to all MSPs to remind them it is exactly one year until the statutory duty to end fuel poverty must be met.
The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 states that the Scottish Government has to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that people are not living in fuel poverty in Scotland by November 2016.
Making sure that people can afford the basic right of living in a warm home is our key objective
With exactly one year to go, it is clear that the target will be missed. However, Scottish ministers have not yet said what will come next.
Norman Kerr, director of Energy Action Scotland, said: “There are currently 39% of households affected and with the target date to end fuel poverty exactly one year away, we are pressing the Scottish Government to set out how this can realistically be achieved.
“We are urging Scottish ministers to acknowledge that the target will not be met and to start discussions now on producing a new fuel poverty strategy for Scotland.
“Making sure that people can afford the basic right of living in a warm home is our key objective.”
A set of six key recommendations from the charity has also been sent to Scottish ministers asking to: reset the target to end fuel poverty; fund fuel poverty programmes; consult early on energy efficiency in the private sector; pledge to make fuel poverty a central pillar of Scotland's Energy Efficiency Programme; review new devolved powers in relation to fuel poverty; and create a fuel poverty cross-departmental group.
Housing minister Margaret Burgess said she was committed to taking on the problem, with tackling inequality at the heart of government's policy agenda.
"We have allocated over £500 million since 2009 on a raft of fuel poverty measures and this year a record £119m is being made available for this," she told Energy Action Scotland's recent conference.
"The new Warmer Homes Scotland scheme will deliver the best possible help to thousands of people who are blighted by fuel poverty."
