Scottish Government

Executive Summary

Introduction

1. In 2001, the Scottish Executive launched the Central Heating Programme ( CHP) to install new heating systems alongside a package of insulation measures and other improvements in an estimated 70,000 dwellings in Scotland that did not have a central heating system. To monitor the impact of these improvements on tackling fuel poverty, the Scottish Executive commissioned a survey of households included in each of the first three years of the programme. This report presents the results of the households receiving a new heating system during 2002-2003, the second year of the CHP.

The Second Year Survey

2. During 2002-3003, 11,200 households across all tenures received a new heating system, amongst other improvement works, under the CHP. From this total, 475 randomly selected households were surveyed between May 2004 and September 2004 to assess the impact of the CHP on tackling fuel poverty.

3. Three of the most significant factors in determining whether or not a dwelling is in fuel poverty are the energy efficiency of the home, the household fuel costs, and the household income. This survey collected information on all three of these factors through

• an energy audit survey of the dwelling to collect information on its heating and insulation characteristics;
• a household questionnaire to collect information on the use and heating of individual rooms in the home, the incidence and extent of dampness in the dwelling, fuel expenditure, methods of payment, self-disconnection, fuel debt, household characteristics, health concerns, and income.

4. Importantly, information collected through the survey and the questionnaire distinguished between the situation before and after the CHP improvements. This information was analysed using the National Home Energy Rating ( NHER) Surveyor 3 energy audit computer software. The results in the main report are presented for both the overall sample population, and broken down where appropriate by tenure, urban and rural households, and by pensioner and non-pensioner households.

Energy Efficiency of the Dwelling

5. The energy efficiency of the surveyed dwellings was assessed via the dwelling's NHER score. This score, on a scale of 0 - 10, provides a succinct measurement of the overall energy efficiency of a dwelling: a score of '0' indicates a poorly insulated dwelling that is reliant upon an expensive form heating, while a score of '10' indicates a dwelling that is extremely efficient in its overall use of energy.

6. Prior to the CHP improvements, 89.7% of the dwellings scored less than 5 on the NHER scale, with a mean NHER score of 3.15. Only 7 dwellings scored 7 or higher on the NHER scale. As a result of the CHP improvements, the mean NHER score more than doubled to 6.67, with only 14.1% of the dwellings remaining at less than 5, but with almost half (48.8%) scoring 7 or better.

Household Fuel Costs

7. Household-reported fuel expenditure prior to the CHP improvements ranged from £3.29 to over £50 per week, with 17.9% of households spending more than £20 per week on average. The mean expenditure was £14.48 per week. After the CHP improvements, less than 6% of households reported they were spending more than £20 per week with a mean household-reported expenditure fell to £12.05 per week, a reduction of 16.8%.

8. Prior to the new heating being installed, households were found to be heating their homes to a lower standard than assumed by the satisfactory heating regime set out in the Scottish Fuel Poverty Statement. Only 7.9% reported they were heating the whole of their home; 15.2% reported they were heating only the lounge, and 67.2% were heating no more than the lounge and two other rooms. When the use of heating in each room was aggregated and averaged across the whole house, the result was a mean use of heating of 4.2 hours per day, with the households rating their homes between cool and comfortable on average in terms of comfort. Afterwards, 46.7% of households were heating the whole of the house, with 92.5% heating the lounge and at least 3 other rooms for 9.07 hours per day on average, and accompanied by an increase in the reported comfort level in both the individual rooms and across the home.

9. To achieve the temperatures assumed in the satisfactory heating regime prior to the CHP improvements would have required a mean expenditure of £1208 per year, an 85.3% increase on the house-hold reported fuel expenditure. Following the CHP improvements, the cost of achieving this standard fell to £616, a 49.0% reduction.

Household Income

10. Total household income ranged between £2,206 and £42,858, with a mean total household income ( i.e. when Housing Benefit, Income Support for Mortgage Interest and Council Tax Relief are included) of £10,162.

11. Other definitions of household income were examined in the report.

Impact on Fuel Poverty

12. The Scottish Fuel Poverty Statement states that 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 [total household] income on all household fuel use". Using this definition of fuel poverty, the CHP resulted in a considerable reduction in the incidence and severity of fuel poverty through the installation of new heating and the other improvements.

13. Prior to the CHP improvements, the average fuel expenditure required to meet the satisfactory heating regime accounted for 11.9% of total household income, with 56.6% of households needing to spend more than 10% of their total household income. A subset of this group, representing 17.5% of all the households needed to spend more than 20% of their income on fuel. Afterwards, the average fuel expenditure to achieve the satisfactory heating regime fell to 6.0% of total household income, with 15.4% needing to spend more than 10% of their income. Through the CHP improvements, 72.5% of the fuel poor households in the survey were removed from fuel poverty.

14. Regardless of the method used in calculating household income, the CHP successfully removed considerable percentages of the fuel poor households from fuel poverty. However, the percentages removed do vary between different groups within society and the method of calculating household income.

15. The results from the survey indicate that physical improvements to the dwelling may be insufficient on their own to remove all households from fuel poverty. Those that remained in fuel poverty after the CHP improvements were characterised by low and very low incomes, with 84.7% having an income of less than £9,000 per year, and 39% of these having an income of less than £5,000 per year.

Condensation, Dampness and Mould

16. The large majority of the individual rooms were recorded as being free of damp, condensation and mould for both before and after the CHP improvements. In the small number of dwellings where dampness, condensation or mould was reported, there was a reduction in the number of rooms affected by these problems, as well as a reduction in the severity of the problem.

Ancillary Issues

17. For the small number of households that reported a fuel debt with one of their fuel suppliers prior to the CHP improvements, all of these households were either paying off the debt or had paid it off subsequently. No householder reported that their debt had got worse, or reported that they had got into a fuel debt since the new heating had been installed.

18. A small percentage of households used prepayment meters to pay for their fuel. Self disconnection does not appear to have been much of a problem either before or after the CHP improvements. Where self disconnection was reported, the incidence of self-disconnection has reduced subsequent to installing the new heating.

19. A small percentage of householders reported that they had switched their fuel supplier, some more than once, after the new heating was installed. The main reason cited was the search for cheaper fuel prices.

20. A small percentage of households reported that they had switched their method of payment subsequent to the new heating being installed. The main reasons cited were the search for cheaper fuel bills and the sake of convenience.

21. All households were asked about whether their use of individual rooms in the home had changed after the new heating was installed. What emerged is a small net increase in the use of rooms other than the lounge after the CHP improvements.

22. All occupants were asked about their health before and after the CHP improvements. Despite all of the qualifications that must be applied to these results regarding health, and their complete subjectivity, the results are positive. Amongst the 256 individuals that reported they had a health problem prior to the new heating being installed, 59.5% reported that their condition had eased or improved since the CHP improvements.

Household Experience with the New Heating

23. The overwhelming majority of householders (83.2%) reported that the new system heated their home either well or extremely well, while 76.1% found the system easy or extremely easy to use, and 73.3% stated that they were either satisfied or extremely satisfied overall with the new system.

Comparison with Year 1 Survey

24. Compared to the Year 1 results, the overall Year 2 results are very similar for the CHP. Despite the lack of targeting of the programme, more than half of all the households receiving a new heating system were fuel poor before the new system was installed. In terms of impact, the CHP removed almost three-quarters of the fuel poor households from fuel poverty. This is a smaller percentage than in Year 1, but the degree of fuel poverty was found to be more severe amongst the Year 2 survey compared to Year 1.

Conclusion

25. In Year 2, the CHP continued to reduce the cost of heating the home to a reasonable temperature standard and, as a result, removed a significant number of households from fuel poverty (see Summary table below). Installing the new heating and the other insulation improvements continues to appear to achieve very noticeable and tangible benefits for the recipients. Conditions within the home improve; homes are being heated more and for longer; rooms are being used more; and the households consider their homes to be warmer and more comfortable to live in.

Summary Table