Why has CERT activity been lower in Scotland?
In order to understand the issues of underspend in Scotland more deeply, the Scottish Government in 2007 established a Scottish CERT Strategy Manager. Based within the Energy Saving Trust, the CERT Strategy Manager has been carrying out extensive investigations into the issues facing effective delivery of CERT in Scotland. Traditionally, energy supply companies deliver measures where it is easiest and most cost effective to do so. The main measures supported through CERT are cavity wall and loft insulation, energy efficient appliances and light bulbs, because these are the most cost effective in terms of carbon savings delivered.
There are a number of factors that could be making the delivery of CERT measures more difficult in Scotland:
- Scotland has a more dispersed and lower population density meaning potentially higher costs for reaching rural and island communities.
- Scottish house types, construction and property sizes are different which may make energy savings less cost effective in Scotland. For example:
- Where there are cavity walls, these tend to be wider due to different building codes and practices in Scotland.
- Scotland has more flats (Scotland 36%, England 17%, Wales 9%) which provide fewer opportunities for spend and savings.
- Area based approaches, which have proven to be a very cost effective mechanism for delivering CERT measures, have, in the past, been more developed in England and Wales.
- In the past, the Scottish Government's Fuel Poverty Programmes were displacing CERT spend as the insulation measures available under the CERT Priority Group were largely the same as those previously available through the Warm Deal and Central Heating Programmes.
- Some energy supply companies may have found it easier to concentrate their CERT activity closer to their core domestic markets in England and Wales.