Tom Barclay: Scotland’s fuel poverty crisis demands action, not just targets

The 2% rise in energy bills from October couldn’t come at a worse time. With 861,000 Scottish households already struggling with fuel poverty, this £35 annual increase might not sound like much, but for families already choosing between heating and eating, it’s another impossible burden.

At Kingdom Group, we see this crisis up close every day. Our tenancy sustainment service supported nearly 1,500 new cases last year, delivering close to £1 million in financial gains for customers. Kingdom’s efforts are about keeping families in their homes and the heating on. But here’s the stark reality: despite helping nearly 450 customers access energy advice and practical guidance on how to make their homes more energy efficient, we’re barely scratching the surface of Scotland’s fuel poverty emergency.

The numbers tell a grim story. Scotland has set targets that by 2040, no household in the country will be in fuel poverty. Yet figures from the Scottish House Condition Survey published in January this year show 34% of all Scottish households are currently in fuel poverty, with 19.4% of households facing extreme fuel poverty. Most shocking is the fact that energy bills are now 54% higher than in 2021. 

And the data reveals uncomfortable truths about who bears this burden. Social housing tenants face fuel poverty rates of 61% compared to 25% of people in private housing. Households using prepayment meters, often those with the poorest credit histories, see fuel poverty rates of 57% compared to 31% for others. Energy efficiency matters enormously: 48% of households in the least efficient homes (Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) bands F-G) are fuel poor, compared to 32% in more energy efficient homes.

But let’s face it, this isn’t just about comfort or cost. This is quite simply a public health emergency, hiding in plain sight.

Our experience shows what’s possible when you get the right support to the right people. Through Kingdom’s partnership with the charity Change Mental Health, we’re providing dedicated resilience support to customers, recognising that fuel poverty isn’t just about energy bills, it’s ultimately about the stress, anxiety and health impacts that living in cold homes drives. 

The Scottish Government deserves credit for recent investments: £41m in additional winter support, a commitment to £300m for heat programmes in 2025/26, and the recent announcement that 880,000 pensioners will receive winter heating payments of up to £305. But the latest official figures tell a troubling story. Fuel poverty has risen from 31% to 34% in the twelve months to 2023, with the typical fuel-poor household needing an extra £1,250 annually, that’s over £100 a month, to afford adequate heating. So despite these welcome investments, current approaches aren’t working at either the scale or with the speed required.

What, then, does Scotland need to do differently?

Well, how about massively scaling up investment in trusted intermediaries? Housing associations, local authorities and community organisations know their communities. We have established relationships, local knowledge, and proven track records. We’re already there, already trusted, already delivering.

Focus on wraparound support, not just energy efficiency. Our tenancy sustainment approach recognises that fuel poverty is rarely an isolated problem. Last year, we helped customers claim over £800,000 in benefits to which they were entitled, including close to £200,000 in Universal Credit. We know stable housing is fundamental to tackling fuel poverty and that our holistic approach works.

Prioritise prevention over crisis response. It’s far cheaper to prevent fuel poverty than to deal with its consequences, such as evictions, health problems and family breakdown.

The upcoming Scottish budget offers a crucial opportunity to do more for the households who really need support, through trusted intermediaries like Kingdom Group and local government partners. We can continue with incremental improvements while hundreds of thousands of families struggle, or we can recognise that fuel poverty requires the same urgent, scaled responses that a wealthy society like ours would give any other emergency, especially one that affects a third of our population.

At Kingdom Group, we’re ready to expand our reach. Our partnerships with local authorities and organisations like the Fife Housing Association Alliance show what’s possible when we work together. But we need both the UK and Scottish Governments to match our ambition with investment that reflects the scale of this crisis.

Every household we help represents a family that can heat their home without fear;  children who can do homework in warm rooms; and older people who don’t have to choose between food and fuel. 

Scotland’s fuel poverty targets aren’t just numbers on a page. They’re a promise to nearly a million households currently living in cold homes. This October energy price rise makes delivering on that promise more urgent than ever.

The question isn’t whether Scotland can afford to tackle fuel poverty at scale. It’s 2025, and the question is really whether we can afford not to.