Responsibility for key fuel poverty schemes will be taken away from energy firms in Scotland if it becomes independent, it has emerged.
Housing and welfare minister Margaret Burgess said the UK government’s planned changes to the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) would – by its own analysis – result in firms cutting their spending by around £500m.
That translates to a £50m reduction in Scotland and will signal a shift away from energy efficiency measures for the most vulnerable, she said.
Ms Burgess said: ‘We believe that a more comprehensive and fairer service for those vulnerable to fuel poverty can be provided with a properly planned and government funded service, working with delivery partners, which is our approach through the home energy efficiency programmes for Scotland. This is far better than relying on the kind of market incentive system favoured by the UK government.’
ECO was introduced last year as a way to reduce energy consumption and support those in fuel poverty through energy efficiency measures subsidised by utility companies. UK government is proposing to extend the scheme by two years to 2017 to make the £1.3bn programme ‘easier and cheaper’. The element of ECO that is designed to tackle hard to treat properties is expected to be cut by 33%.
‘With the powers of independence, this government would tackle fuel poverty head on by permanently transferring responsibility for ECO and Warm Homes Discount from energy companies to the Scottish Government – meeting these costs from central resources and maintaining investment in energy efficiency,’ said Ms Burgess.
‘This is a fairer way of paying for energy efficiency measures than through people’s energy bills and would enable us to design a new means of funding, delivering energy efficiency improvements to Scottish homes that are fairer and better suited to our needs.’