Scottish House Condition Survey: 2021 Key Findings

4 Energy Perceptions

Key Points

• 13% of households found that their heating keeps them warm in winter only sometimes and 4% find it never keeps them warm.
• 5% of households reported that their homes were difficult to heat because they cannot afford to heat them.
• Fuel poor households and extreme fuel poor households are more likely to have difficulties staying warm in winter and to report affordability problems; 24% of fuel poor and 27% of extreme fuel poor say that their heating keeps them warm in winter “only sometimes” or “never”, compared to 16% of non-fuel poor households.
• 9% of fuel poor and 10% of extreme fuel poor households report that they cannot afford to heat their home, higher than the 4% of non-fuel poor households.
• 61% of householders stated they monitor their energy use “very” or “fairly closely”. 40% of all households report owning an energy monitoring device.
• Fuel poor households (66%) were more likely to have reported monitoring their energy use “very” or “fairly closely” compared to non-fuel poor households (59%) in 2021.
• Conversely, both fuel poor (36%) and extreme fuel poor (34%) households were less likely to own a monitoring device compared to non-fuel poor (41%) households. 

4.1 Heating Satisfaction

Respondents’ views on their ability to keep warm in the winter and why this may be difficult is a useful context for understanding statistics on fuel poverty and energy efficiency in the home.

In 2021, 81% of householders reported that they were always able to stay warm at home during the winter (Figure 4.1), 13% said that their heating keeps them warm only sometimes, and 4% report that their heating systems never keep them warm in winter.

Figure 4.1: Staying Warm in Winter, 2021

Data Source: Table EP1 in 'Energy Perceptions' tables.

As shown in Table 4.1, of those reporting that their heating system keeps them warm in winter “only sometimes” or “never”, 20% report this to be “a serious problem”, 51% “a bit of a problem”, while 29% said it was “not very much” or “not a problem”.

Figure 4.2 shows how respondents’ views on how well their heating systems keep them warm in winter varies depending on household type, tenure and the primary heating fuel they use.

Families were more likely than other and older households to report that their heating system doesn’t always keep them warm in the winter; 21% for families, compared to 17% and 17% for other and older households respectively.

Social and private renters were more likely to report that their heating does not always keep them warm compared to owner occupiers; 24% and 22%, for social and private renters respectively, compared to 14% for owner occupiers. For social sector tenants this contrasts with the relatively better energy efficiency of the dwellings they occupy compared to the housing stock overall (as shown in Table 2.8).

Households with electric heating were also more likely to report that their heating system does not keep them warm in the winter (33%) when compared to households heated with gas (15%).

Figure 4.2: “Does Your Heating Keep You Warm Enough in the Winter?” by Household Type, Tenure and Primary Heating Fuel; SHCS 2021

Data Source: Table EP2 in 'Energy Perceptions' tables.

The reasons why people found their homes difficult to heat in 2021 are shown in Table 4.2. 64% of all households did not report any problems heating their homes. Private rented (42%) and social sector tenants (42%) were more likely than owner occupiers (32%) to report difficulties in 2021.

The most common reasons relate to poor energy performance of the dwellings: draughts (14%) and poor or inadequate heating systems (12%), followed by poor insulation and old windows (10% each).

5% of householders considered it unaffordable to achieve the indoor temperatures they want. This is higher among private and social renters (7% and 9% respectively) compared to owner occupiers (3%).

Table 4.3 shows how fuel poor and non-fuel poor households compare in their views on winter heating and heating affordability in 2021, while Table 4.4 shows householders’ views on how much of a problem it is if their heating does not keep them warm in winter.

Fuel poor and extreme fuel poor households [15] are more likely to report that their heating keeps them warm in winter “only sometimes” or “never”, 24% and 27%, respectively, compared to 15% of non-fuel poor households. For those households who replied “only sometimes” or “never” 79% of fuel poor households and 82% of extreme fuel poor households this is “a serious” or “a bit of a problem”, higher than 67% for households who are not fuel poor.

For a full breakdown of these stats see Tables EP6 and EP7 in 'Energy Perceptions' tables.

4.2 Monitoring Energy Use

The Scottish Household Survey asks respondents to what extent they monitor their energy use and whether or not they have energy monitoring devices.

As shown in Table 4.5, the proportion of households that do not monitor their energy use was 17%.

Conversely, the proportion of those who report monitoring their energy use “fairly” or “very closely” was 61%.

40% of households reported having energy monitoring devices. See Table EP9 and EP10 in the tables on energy perceptions accompanying this report as a supporting document.

Table 4.6 shows that a higher proportion of fuel poor (66%) households monitored their energy use “very” or “fairly closely” compared to non-fuel poor households (59%). Conversely both fuel poor households (36%) and extreme fuel poor (34%) households were less likely to have a monitoring device than and non-fuel poor (41%). See table EP12 in Energy Perceptions tables.

Footnotes

[15] Households in extreme fuel poverty are a subset of those in fuel poverty. Therefore, it should be noted that the estimates presented in Tables 4.3, 4.4, and 4.6 for fuel poor and extreme fuel poor households are not for two distinct mutually exclusive groups.