EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
1. In 2001, the Scottish Executive launched the Central Heating Programme ( CHP) which would install central heating systems and a package of insulation measures in all social sector properties which had no central heating system and in private sector households where the householder or their partner was aged 60 or over and there was no central heating system or one that had broken beyond repair. To monitor the impact of these improvements on tackling fuel poverty, the Scottish Executive commissioned a survey of a sample of households included in each of the first three years of the programme. This report presents the results from the households receiving a new heating system during the first three years - October 2001 to March 2004 - of the CHP.
The First Three Years
2. Between 2001 and 2004, some 36,500 households across all tenures in Scotland received a new heating system, amongst other improvement works, under the CHP. From this total, 1407 randomly selected households were surveyed between 2002 and 2005 about one year after the end of each annual programme to assess the impact of the CHP on tackling fuel poverty. The results from the first two annual surveys have been reported previously. This report includes some information from each of three annual surveys, and unless otherwise stated is concerned with reporting the results amalgamated across all three years.
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 disaggregated by tenure, urban and rural location, 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, 84.3% of all the dwellings scored less than 5 on the NHER scale, with a mean NHER score of 3.28, which is less than the national average of 5.8 identified by the Scottish House Condition Survey. Less than 3% of the dwellings surveyed scored 7 or higher on the NHER scale prior to the improvement works. As a result of the CHP improvements, the mean NHER score more than doubled to 6.98, with only 15.4% of the dwellings remaining at less than 5, and more than half (58.2%) scoring 7 or better. About 70% of homes increased their NHER score by 3 points or more (see Table 1).
Summary Table 1: NHER Results
Variable | Year 1 survey | Year 2 survey | Year 3 survey | Mean Results Overall sample |
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Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP |
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Mean NHER score R | 3.30 | 7.15 | 2.98 | 6.62 | 3.56 | 7.18 | 3.28 | 6.98 |
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% dwellings with NHER <5 | 84.3% | 10.5% | 88.6% | 21.9% | 80.9% | 13.2% | 84.8% | 15.4% |
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R Because of changes in the underlying methodology, all of the NHER scores were recalculated using version 4.1 of the NHER Surveyor 3 computer program for consistency. This has resulted in some of the previously reported NHER scores changing; therefore the average figures previously reported for the NHER have been revised.
Household Fuel Costs
7. Household-reported fuel expenditure prior to the CHP improvements ranged from just over £3 per week to over £50, with 15.2% of households overall reporting they were spending more than £20 per week on average. The mean expenditure was £13.79 per week. After the CHP improvements, 5.3% of households reported that they were spending more than £20 per week, while mean household-reported expenditure fell to £12.01 per week, a reduction of 12.8% on reported expenditure (see Summary Table 2).
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 15.6% of households reported they were heating the whole of their home (the lounge plus four or five more rooms); 20% reported they were heating only the lounge, and 71.4% were heating no more than the lounge and two other rooms. Afterwards, 77.7% of households were heating the lounge and at least 4 other rooms, with 91.6% heating the lounge and at least 3 other rooms.
9. When the use of heating in each room was aggregated and averaged across the whole house, the use of heating increased from 4.52 hours per room per day on average, to 8.63 hours. Household rating of their home's level of comfort increased from between 'cool' and 'comfortable' on average to between 'comfortable' and 'warm' on a 5-point scale. These increases in the use of heating and the reported levels of comfort were seen across almost individual rooms in the home.
10. To achieve the temperatures assumed in the satisfactory heating regime prior to the CHP improvements would have required a mean expenditure of £1179 per year, a 64.3% increase on the house-hold reported fuel expenditure. Following the CHP improvements, the cost of achieving this standard fell to £618, almost a 50% reduction.
Summary Table 2: Fuel Costs, Use of Heating and Comfort Levels
| Year 1 survey | Year 2 survey | Year 3 survey | Mean Results Overall sample |
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Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP |
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Mean household-reported fuel expenditure | £13.02 / week (£677 / year) | £11.43 / week (£594 / year) | £14.48 / week (£753 / year) | £12.05 / week (£627 / year) | £13.89 / week (£722 / year) | £12.36 / week (£643 / year) | £13.79 / week (£717 / year) | £12.01 / week (£625 / year) |
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% household-reported fuel expenditure >£20 per week | 12.0% | 3.9% | 19.2% | 6.2% | 15.1% | 5.8% | 15.2% | 5.3% |
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Mean use of heating per room per day | 4.5 hours | 9.7 hours | 4.2 hours | 9.1 hours | 4.3 hours | 7.2 hours | 4.52 hours | 8.63 hours |
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Mean Comfort rating | 2.16 | 3.62 | 2.27 | 3.71 | 2.38 | 3.66 | 2.27 | 3.66 |
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Fuel expenditure to achieve satisfactory heating regime R | £1,170 p.a. | £599 p.a. | £1,288 p.a. | £665 p.a. | £1,076 p.a. | £588 p.a. | £1,179 p.a. | £618 p.a. |
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R Because of changes in the underlying methodology, all of the NHER calculated fuel costs were recalculated using version 4.1 of the NHER Surveyor 3 computer program for consistency. This has resulted in some of the previously reported NHER calculated fuel costs changing, therefore the average figures previously reported for the NHER calculated fuel costs have been revised.
Household Income
11. The Scottish Fuel Poverty Statement-defined total household income ( i.e. with Housing Benefit, Income Support for Mortgage Interest and Council Tax Relief included and Council Tax excluded) ranged from £2,206 to almost £50,000, with a mean total household income of £10,375 before the CHP improvements (see Summary Table 3).
12. Other definitions of household income are examined in the report, and their impact assessed: unsurprisingly, the lower the income, the greater the percentage spent on fuel and the greater the number of fuel poor households. However, different definitions have very different impacts on specific tenure, location and age of householder sub-groups examined. The impact is far from homogenous.
Summary Table 3: Household Income
Income | Year 1 survey | Year 2 survey | Year 3 survey | Mean Results Overall sample |
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Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP |
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Household-reported income (unadjusted) | £9,606 | £9,677 | £9,837 | £10,034 | £10,720 | £10,742 | £10,051 | £10,148 |
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Total household income (including HB, ISMI and CTR) | £9,930 | £10,002 | £10,162 | £10,358 | £11,043 | £11,066 | £10,375 | £10,472 |
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Impact on Fuel Poverty
13. 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.
14. Prior to the CHP improvements, the average fuel expenditure required to meet the satisfactory heating regime accounted for 11.4% of total household income, with 53.4% of households needing to spend more than 10% of their total household income on fuel. A subset of this group, representing 15.4% of all the households needed to spend more than 20% of their income on fuel. Afterwards, the average fuel expenditure required to achieve the satisfactory heating regime fell to 5.9% of total household income, with only 13.0% of households needing to spend more than 10% of their income. Through the CHP improvements, 76.2% of the fuel poor households in the survey were removed from fuel poverty. Similar magnitudes were found across the different tenure, age of householder, and location sub-groups, though the percentages varied (see Summary Table 4).
15. Regardless of the method used in calculating household income, the CHP successfully removed considerable proportions of the fuel poor households from fuel poverty both overall and across the individual tenure, age of householder, and location sub-groups. However, the percentages removed varied between the different sub-groups within society, and with different methods of calculating household income.
Summary Table 4: Impact on Fuel Poverty
Variable | Year 1 survey | Year 2 survey | Year 3 survey | Mean Results Overall Sample |
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Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP |
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% total household income require to achieve satisfactory heating regime | 11.4% | 5.5% | 11.0% | 6.0% | 9.8% | 5.3% | 11.5% | 5.9% |
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% households needing to spend > 10% of income on fuel | 61.6% | 7.8% | 56.6% | 15.4% | 40.0% | 9.5% | 54.3% | 12.9% |
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% households needing to spend > 20% of income on fuel | 9.3% | 0 | 17.5% | 2.1% | 11.3% | 1.1% | 15.5% | 1.1% |
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% fuel poor households removed from fuel poverty | n/a | 82.2% | n/a | 69.6% | n/a | 76.0% | n/a | 76.2% |
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16. The results from the survey indicate that physical improvements to dwellings 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 61.4% having an income of less than £7,000 per year, and 19.4% of those that remained fuel poor having an income of less than £5,000 per year.
17. Before the CHP improvements, fuel poor households accounted for 79.2% of all households needing to spend £19 or more on fuel per week on average; by contrast, 77.0% of households needing to spend less than £18 per week on average were not fuel poor. After the CHP improvements, 56.4% of households needing to spend £19 or more per week were found to be fuel poor, compared to only 8.7% of those needing to spend less than £18 per week. Households needing to spend more than £19 per week accounted for only 7.9% of the overall sample after the CHP improvements.
18. Before the CHP improvements, 60.0% of all households living in dwellings with a NHER score of less than 5 were found to be fuel poor, while only 22.2% of those living in dwellings with a NHER of 5 or better were found to be fuel poor. After the CHP improvements, 43.6% of households where the NHER score was less than 5 were fuel poor, while only 7.6% of households with a NHER score of 5 or more were fuel poor. Households living in dwellings that scored less than 5 on the NHER scale accounted for only 15.1% of the overall sample after the CHP improvements.
19. Amongst households with a total household income of less than £10,000 per year, 72% of them were found to be fuel poor prior to the CHP works, whereas 25.1% of those with a total household income of more than £11,000 were fuel poor. After the CHP improvements, 86.8% of the households that were still fuel poor had a SFPS-defined total household income of less than £9,000.
Condensation, Dampness and Mould
20. The large majority of the individual rooms were recorded as being free of dampness, condensation and mould both before and after the CHP improvements. In the small number of dwellings where dampness, condensation or mould problems were reported, there was a reduction in both the number of rooms affected by these problems, as well as a reduction in the severity of the problem after the CHP improvements.
Ancillary Issues
21. For the small number of households that reported a fuel debt with one of their fuel suppliers prior to the CHP improvements, almost all of these households were either paying off the debt or had paid it off subsequently.
22. A small percentage of households used prepayment meters to pay for their fuel. Self-disconnection (that is, where a fuel supply is cut off completely because the amount credited to the prepayment meter has fallen to the point where no further supply is available until more money is credited to the meter) does not appear to have been much of a problem either before or after the CHP improvements generally. Where households reported that self disconnection occurred prior to the CHP improvements, they reported that the frequency of self-disconnection was reduced afterwards.
23. Only 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.
24. 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.
25. All households were asked about whether their use of individual rooms in the home had changed after the new heating was installed. What emerged was a small net increase in the use of rooms other than the lounge after the CHP improvements.
26. All occupants were asked about their health before and after the CHP improvements. Overall, 41.1% of all the individuals reported they had a health problem or severe disability prior to the new heating being installed; of these, 53.9% reported that their condition had eased or improved since the CHP improvements. This is a positive result but is qualified by the fact that assessments of health were self reported.
Household Experience with the New Heating
27. The overwhelming majority of householders (81.8%) reported that the new system heated their home either well or extremely well, while 71.4% found the system easy or extremely easy to use, and 80.1% stated that they were either satisfied or extremely satisfied overall with the new system.
Comparing the Year 1, 2 and 3 Survey Results
28. The year on year survey results found that mean household income increased each year, which explains in part why the percentage of households in fuel poverty before the CHP improvements was less each year (see Summary Table, over the page).
29. There was also considerable consistency across the year on year survey results:
- over 80% of the dwellings scored below 5 on the NHER scale before the CHP improvements compared to less than 25% afterwards, with an increase of more than 3 points on the NHER scale on average each year;
- the mean household-reported expenditure before the improvements;
- the reduction in the mean household-reported expenditure after the improvements;
- afterwards, only 6% or less of mean total household income was needed to achieve the temperature standards compared to at least 9.8% before;
- almost 70% of the fuel poor households were removed each year from fuel poverty by the CHP improvements.
Conclusion
30. Over its first three years, the CHP has succeeded in reducing 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 appears to have achieved very noticeable and tangible benefits for the recipients. More than 70% of the households increased the energy efficiency of their homes by at least 3 points on the NHER scale. Conditions within the home have improved: homes are being heated to a greater extent and for longer; rooms are being used more; the incidence and severity of condensation, dampness and mould are reduced, and the households consider their homes to be warmer and more comfortable to live in. On top of all that, they are spending less on fuel on average.
Overall Summary Table of Results
Variable | Year 1 survey | Year 2 survey | Year 3 survey | Mean Results Overall sample |
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Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP | Before CHP | After CHP |
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Mean NHER score R | 3.30 | 7.15 | 2.98 | 6.62 | 3.56 | 7.18 | 3.28 | 6.98 |
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% dwellings with NHER <5 | 84.3% | 10.5% | 88.6% | 21.9% | 80.9% | 13.2% | 84.8% | 15.4% |
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Mean household-reported fuel expenditure | £13.02 / week (£677 / year) | £11.43 / week (£594 / year) | £14.48 / week (£753 / year) | £12.05 / week (£627 / year) | £13.89 / week (£722 / year) | £12.36 / week (£643 / year) | £13.79 / week (£717 / year) | £12.01 / week (£625 / year) |
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% household-reported fuel expenditure >£20 per week | 12.0% | 3.9% | 19.2% | 6.2% | 15.1% | 5.8% | 15.2% | 5.3% |
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Mean use of heating per room per day | 4.5 hours | 9.7 hours | 4.2 hours | 9.1 hours | 4.3 hours | 7.2 hours | 4.52 hours | 8.63 hours |
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Mean Comfort rating | 2.16 | 3.62 | 2.27 | 3.71 | 2.38 | 3.66 | 2.27 | 3.66 |
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Fuel expenditure to achieve satisfactory heating regime R | £1,170 p.a. | £599 p.a. | £1,288 p.a. | £665 p.a. | £1,076 p.a. | £588 p.a. | £1,179 p.a. | £618 p.a. |
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Mean total household income | £9,930 | £10,002 | £10,162 | £10,358 | £11,043 | £11,066 | £10,375 | £10,472 |
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% total household income require to achieve satisfactory heating regime R | 11.4% | 5.5% | 11.0% | 6.0% | 9.8% | 5.3% | 11.5% | 5.9% |
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% households needing to spend > 10% of income on fuel | 61.6% | 7.8% | 56.6% | 15.4% | 40.0% | 9.5% | 54.3% | 12.9% |
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% households needing to spend > 20% of income on fuel | 9.3% | 0 | 17.5% | 2.1% | 11.3% | 1.1% | 15.5% | 1.1% |
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% fuel poor households removed from fuel poverty | n/a | 82.2% | n/a | 69.6% | n/a | 76.0% | n/a | 76.2% |
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R Because of changes in the underlying methodology, all of the NHER scores and calculated fuel costs were recalculated using version 4.1 of the NHER Surveyor 3 computer programme for consistency. This has resulted in some of the previously reported NHER scores and calculated fuel costs changing, therefore the average figures previously reported for the NHER and calculated fuel costs have been revised.