News / SIC alarmed at fuel poverty levels
SHETLAND Islands Council has pledged to do all it can to tackle the growing problem of fuel poverty in the islands, even though it has no money to play with.
On Wednesday councillors heard that more than one third of the islands’ 10,000 households spent more than 10 per cent of their income on heating their homes, with almost 1,500 homes spending more than 20 per cent on heat.
Two thirds of the islands pensioners are in the 10 per cent bracket that defines fuel poverty.
A report by SIC policy officer Emma Perring said that “with the predicted ongoing rise in energy costs, the situation will become worse for households”.
The problem is felt more keenly among the privately owned and private rented sector, with people living in Lerwick and in the more remote rural communities being worst affected.
Higher incomes in Shetland mean the islands are probably better off than their counterparts in Orkney and the western isles, however the extreme weather and old fashioned design of properties make conditions starker in the far north.
Strong winds, long winters, cool summers, the lack of mains gas and higher fuel costs all add to the problem of heating homes in Shetland. Innovative schemes like district heating only operate in Lerwick at present.
Debating the issue in a cold Lerwick Town Hall, councillors agreed to put tackling fuel poverty at the top of the agenda and bring the subject back to future meetings to check on progress.
They agreed to launch a campaign to persuade the Scottish government that Shetland needs special treatment because circumstances differ from the rest of the country and national energy efficiency schemes tend to be ineffective.
Ms Perring’s report pointed out that government schemes are geared towards tackling climate change rather than fuel poverty.
The SIC would like schemes to be targeted towards the individual needs of each property, rather than a broad brush approach that often fails to meet the requirements of householders.
Councillors also heard that more than half of the people eligible for the SIC’s own fuel poverty grant withdraw their applications because they can’t face the disruption entailed in insulating their homes or they don’t want to eat into their savings, often held onto for future funeral expenses.
Members agreed to change the conditions of the grant so that the savings limit is increased from £1,000 to £5,000 and a sum is included to cover the cost of preparing a house to be insulated and redecorating once the work has been done.
They also agreed to approach Shetland Charitable Trust to see if they could fund a fuel payment scheme to give pensioners living in fuel poverty, who are not already receiving the trust’s Christmas bonus, a £200 grant to help meet their fuel bills.
The council itself could not afford to cover the £130,000 cost of such a scheme, which would affect an estimated 645 households, as it has agreed not to make any new spending commitments.
However the council will offer households a £50 council tax rebate for each energy efficiency measure they introduce, under a scheme which will be run by local insulation firm Heatwise.
They would also like to consider helping people with energy efficiency measures through any money generated from the proposed community-owned Viking Energy wind farm, should it proceed.
SIC housing spokesman, councillor Allison Duncan, said: “The fuel poverty situation in Shetland is worse than I anticipated. It’s become quite clear that the private sector is worse than the public sector and 66 per cent of senior citizens are in fuel poverty. That’s a very high number and one I would like to see reduced considerably.”
Councillor Allan Wishart urged councillors to keep the issue at the forefront of their minds, and it was agreed to have an update at the next council meeting.
Councillor Jonathan Wills said that he had discovered council papers in his loft from 1994 in which the council had been talking about wind chill and fuel poverty, but warned that without any money to spend on the problem they were “in danger of encouraging expectations that we must disappoint”.
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