Falkirk Council

What is Fuel Poverty?

The Scottish Executive has adopted the following definition of fuel poverty:

“A household is in fuel poverty if, in order to maintain a satisfactory heating regime, it would be required to spend more than 10% of its income on all household fuel use.” *

A target for eradicating this situation for every home in Scotland by 2016 has been set. Falkirk Council agrees that it is unacceptable that many households are forced to make choices between basic rights, such as adequate heating and healthy eating, that arise as a result of fuel poverty. We are hence dedicated to meeting this target.

A ‘Fuel Poverty Strategy’ is currently in development and will pull together all the existing action being taken to combat fuel poverty throughout the region. This will cover all housing tenures.

What are we doing about it?

Falkirk Council now has a dedicated team in place to work on energy and fuel poverty issues. To tackle fuel poverty these three factors must be addressed:

1. Housing must be made more energy efficient
2. Fuel costs must be reduced
3. Income must be maximised

In order to tackle these three aspects partnerships have been formed both internally between different departments of the Council and externally with other councils and organisations such as Stirling Council, Clakmannanshire Council, Forth Valley NHS and Energy Saving Scotland advice centres.

1. Housing: Falkirk Council’s Housing Investment Programme for 2005/6 – 2009/10 makes provision for energy efficiency improvements in approximately 4,000 dwellings. These include installation of central heating systems, insulation measures and double glazing. This will satisfy the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) which requires all Local Authority housing stock to have a National Home Energy Rating (NHER) of 5 by 2015.

Falkirk Council has been successful in obtaining external funding to enhance its programme of installing insulation measures. These include cavity wall and loft insulation where possible throughout the Council stock.

A targeted subsidised offer to fit insulation measures for owner occupiers in the area is also underway. Plans are also in place for a comprehensive energy performance audit of Falkirk Council’s housing stock which will provide information down to individual property level.

2. Fuel prices: This is especially important since it has been calculated that for every 5% rise in fuel prices an extra 30,000 households will fall into fuel poverty (‘Fuel Poverty in Scotland - Scottish House Condition Survey 2002 Follow-up Report’, Communities Scotland, 15 April 2004). Although we are not directly able to alter the prices fuel suppliers charge; Falkirk Council is actively working on methods to reduce fuel costs to tenants.

To achieve this opportunities to expand the provision of lower cost fuels are being investigated. This takes the form of extending the gas network where feasibly possible. In addition Falkirk Council has had success in utilising innovative and more efficient technologies such as combined heat and power (CHP) units and air source heat pumps. Falkirk Council was awarded a grant from the Energy Saving Trust to install a large CHP heating system within six of the high rise towers at Callender Park. We have now completed this project and over 300 properties now benefit from the new CHP system and enjoy access to constant heating and hot water. The Council will continue to consider options to offer lower fuel costs to Falkirk Council tenants.

Furthermore the large potential of renewable energy sources to reduce fuel costs and alleviate carbon dioxide emissions is being researched for both local and remote communities within Falkirk.

3. Income maximisation: Active campaigns to raise awareness of fuel poverty and advice on who can help are underway for both the general public and staff members. For example a leaflet for frontline staff explaining how to recognise vulnerable groups and make referrals to organisations who can help has been produced in conjunction with Stirling and Clackmannanshire Councils, NHS Forth Valley and the Energy Saving Scotland advice centre.

Advice on benefits and debt is also provided through various channels such as the Citizens Advice Bureau|, Community Services Department| and local housing offices|. All houses undergoing the extensive cavity wall insulation programme planned will be offered a benefits health check.

* Due to differing opinions regarding whether to include housing benefit and income support for mortgage interest, the Executive has agreed to monitor definitions that both include and exclude this.