Scottish House Condition Survey: 2021 Key Findings

An Errata was published 28th January 2025 to correct the reporting of gas grid figures using the updated 2021 methodology in the 2021 publication.

The correction increases the 2021 on grid figures for urban dwellings to 97% (5.1 percentage points) and rural dwellings to 43% (4.3 percentage points) and the overall national rate for dwellings on the gas grid also to 88% (5 percentage points).

The correction to the gas grid methodology does not affect the calculation of fuel poverty, or the overall fuel poverty rates presented in the 2021 report.

However when breaking down the fuel poverty rate by on grid and off grid dwellings the correction does change the figures previously reported. This is because after the correction the number of dwellings recorded as on the gas grid has increased.

When applying the correction the 2021 fuel poverty rate for on grid dwellings is 19% (-1 percentage point) while the figure for off grid dwellings is 27% (+6 percentage points).

When applying the correction the 2021 extreme fuel poverty rate for on grid dwellings is 8% (-0.5 percentage points) while the figure for off grid dwellings is 19% (+5 percentage points).

In both cases above the difference between the on and off gas grid fuel poverty rates was found to be statistically significant. This means that in 2021 off gas grid properties had higher fuel and extreme fuel poverty rates than properties on the gas grid.