Report reveals that Caithness and Sutherland residents are paying more for fuel bills than the rest of Scotland
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A new report by an environmental charity has found that people in Caithness and Sutherland are paying 25 per cent more for their fuel bills than the rest of Scotland.
The Changeworks report showed that it would cost an estimated £3132 per year to heat an average three-bedroom property in Caithness and Sutherland compared to the £2450 to heat the same type of property in other parts of Scotland. The cost for other parts of the Highlands and Islands was put at £3053.
Far north SNP MSP Maree Todd described it as a "great injustice" that the region's contribution to green energy is not reflected in bills – instead it faces some of the highest energy bills in the whole of the UK.
But opposition parties said there was more the Scottish Government could be doing to help ease the "glaring inequality" faced by people in rural areas in the far north.
The stark range of costs is in part due to the types of fuels that are used to heat homes in the region, including electricity, oil, LPG, and solid fuels. Forty-four per cent of homes in the area use oil for heating compared to five per cent in Scotland.
The report, named The Perfect Storm, states that a variety of factors are playing a role in the higher costs that are facing people in the region. These include electricity costing more than gas, while 90 per cent of homes in Caithness and Sutherland do not have access to mains gas, and two-thirds use unregulated heating fuels.
Additionally, in rural areas there is a greater proportion of older, less energy efficient properties which leads to more being spent on heating homes.
The report outlined the impact that fuel poverty is having on people including on their health and on social isolation. The report took anecdotal evidence from people within the area who have experience of fuel poverty.
An energy advisor from Caithness said: “People phoning with coughs and things saying they are not well, that they can’t afford to top up, or I have a lot of pensioners saying they stay in bed till 12, then they get up to have a can of soup and then they go back to bed. It’s dreadful to hear.”
A Sutherland householder said: “I’m asthmatic, so if the smoke is blowing in the house it’s not good for asthma, going out in the cold and wet is bad for my asthma, and I get Raynaud’s, so my fingers and toes go at me if the fire isn’t lit.”
Changeworks has suggested several solutions to help those in fuel poverty in rural Scotland. These include: a rural uplift payment to account for higher fuels and living costs; warm home prescriptions (heating bills paid for people with health conditions worsened by the cold); and local ownership of energy assets.
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP Jamie Stone is now urging governments in Edinburgh and London to do more to support those in rural regions.
The Liberal Democrat MP said: "The Highlands has long suffered from disproportionately higher rates of fuel poverty, with neither Scottish nor UK governments showing the initiative to address this glaring inequality. I am glad to see even more research being done into fuel poverty in the Highlands and Islands in response to soaring energy costs because this sort of work speaks with a voice which has long gone unheard by government.
"I hope that this research is taken on board by government officials both in Holyrood and in Westminster as there is much that both governments could – and should – do."
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant has submitted a motion in the Scottish Parliament on rural fuel poverty. She said: “Rural fuel poverty remains a very serious issue within the Highlands and Islands and it is about time that support is delivered to remote and rural areas by this SNP-Green Scottish Government.
“Rural inequalities have long been recorded and depopulation is a growing, pressing and complex issue. It is high time decision makers take action to address this appalling situation.”
However, SNP Maree Todd said that the Scottish Government is working hard with the "limited powers" that it has to support low-income households experiencing or are at risk of fuel poverty, including doubling the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million; the introduction of the new Winter Heating Payment Allowance; and a £1.8 billion allocation for heat and energy efficiency improvements in homes.
She said: “Only through a complete overhaul of the energy market and the introduction of a fair energy pricing system can we truly and meaningfully address fuel poverty in our rural communities. The UK government has all the levers to address this and eradicate fuel poverty but is lacking in the political will."
