Scottish House Condition Survey: 2023 Key Findings

4 Energy Perceptions

Key Points

• 18% of households found that their heating keeps them warm in winter only sometimes and 6% felt it never keeps them warm.
• 12% of households reported that their homes were difficult to heat because they cannot afford to heat them, similar to 2023.
• Fuel poor households and extreme fuel poor households are more likely to have difficulties staying warm in winter and to report affordability problems; 31% of fuel poor and 32% of extreme fuel poor households say that their heating keeps them warm in winter “only sometimes” or “never”, compared to 20% of non-fuel poor households.
• 17% of fuel poor and 18% of extreme fuel poor households report that they cannot afford to heat their home, higher than the 9% of non-fuel poor households.
• 71% of householders stated they monitor their energy use “very” or “fairly closely” and 48% of all households report owning an energy monitoring device.
• Both fuel poor (42%) and extreme fuel poor (40%) households were less likely to own a monitoring device compared to non-fuel poor (51%) 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.

75% of households reported that their heating always keeps them warm in winter

Figure 4.1: Staying Warm in Winter, 2023

Description of figure 4.1

In 2023, 75% of householders reported that they were always able to stay warm at home during the winter (Figure 4.1), similar to 2022. 18% said that their heating keeps them warm only sometimes, and 6% report that their heating never keeps them warm in winter.

As shown in Table 4.1, of those reporting that their heating keeps them warm in winter “only sometimes” or “never”, 23% report this to be “a serious problem”, 53% “a bit of a problem”, while 24% said it was “not very much” or “not a problem”.

Data Source: Table EP1 in ‘SHCS 2023- Chapter 04 Energy Perceptions- tables and figures’

53% of households whose heating does not always keep them warm say this is “a bit of a problem”

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

Tenants in socially rented properties are more likely to say their heating keeps them warm “only sometimes” compared to owner occupiers

Figure 4.2: “Does Your Heating Keep You Warm Enough in the Winter?” by Household Type, Tenure and Primary Heating Fuel; SHCS 2023

Description of figure 4.2

Families and Other households were more likely than older households to report that their heating doesn’t always keep them warm in the winter; 27% for both compared to 18% for older households.

Social and private renters were more likely to report that their heating does not always keep them warm compared to owner occupiers; 30% for both social and private renters, compared to 20% 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 Figure 2.9).

Households with electric heating were also more likely to report that their heating does not always keep them warm in the winter (34%) when compared to households heated with gas (22%).

Data Source: Table EP3 in ‘SHCS 2023- Chapter 04 Energy Perceptions- tables and figures’

The proportion of households reporting that their heating does not always keep them warm was similar to 2022 but has increased since 2019.

Figure 4.3 “Does your heating keep you warm enough in the winter”? Proportion responding only “sometimes or “never” 2004-2019, 2022 - 2023

Description of figure 4.3

Figure 4.3 shows how the proportion of householders reporting that their heating does not always keep them warm enough has changed over time, allowing for the margin of error. As shown in figure 4.3 the proportion of households reporting that their heating does not always keep them is similar to 2022 but has increased since 2019.

The reasons why people found their homes difficult to heat in 2023 are shown in Table 4.2. 61% of all households did not report any problems heating their homes. Private rented (48%) and social sector tenants (45%) were more likely than owner occupiers (35%) to report difficulties in 2023.

The most common reasons people find it difficult to heat their homes relate to poor energy performance of the dwellings: draughts (13%) and poor or inadequate heating systems (13%), were the most common, followed by difficulties being able to afford to heat the home (12%).

The percentage of householders who consider it unaffordable to achieve the indoor temperatures they want is higher among private and social renters (15% and 18% respectively) compared to owner occupiers (8%).

Data Source: Table EP9 in ‘SHCS 2023- Chapter 04 Energy Perceptions- tables and figures’

61% of all households did not report any problems heating their homes

Table 4.3 shows how fuel poor and non-fuel poor households compared in their views on winter heating and heating affordability in 2023, 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[1] are more likely to report that their heating keeps them warm in winter “only sometimes” or “never”, 31% and 33%, respectively, compared to 20% of non-fuel poor households. For those households who replied “only sometimes” or “never” 84% of both fuel poor and extreme fuel poor households reported this is “a serious” or “a bit of a problem”, higher than 69% for households who are not fuel poor.

Fuel poor and extreme fuel poor households are also more likely to report affordability problems. When asked about the reasons why they find it difficult to keep their home warm, 17% of fuel poor households and 18% of extreme fuel poor households say “cannot afford to heat my home”, compared to 9% of non-fuel poor households (see table EP8 in ‘Energy Perceptions’ tables).

Fuel poor and extreme fuel poor households are more likely to report that their heating keeps them warm in winter “only sometimes” or “never”

Fuel poor and extreme fuel poor households are more likely to report that their heating not keeping them warm in winter is a problem

For a full breakdown of these stats see Table EP6 and Table EP7 in ‘SHCS 2023- Chapter 04 Energy Perceptions- tables and figures’.

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 at all was 11%, with a further 18% stating they do not monitor very closely.

Conversely, the proportion of those who report monitoring their energy use “fairly” or “very closely” was 71%. Similar to 2022 levels, but an increase of 14 percentage points since 2019 .

48% of households reported having energy monitoring devices, similar to 2022. See Table EP10 and EP14 in the tables on energy perceptions for more details.

71% of households monitor their energy use “very” or “fairly” closely

Table 4.6 shows that fuel poor (70%), extreme fuel poor (68%) and non-fuel poor (71%) households have similar rates of monitoring their energy use “very” or “fairly closely”. However, both fuel poor households (42%) and extreme fuel poor (40%) households were less likely to have a monitoring device than non-fuel poor (51%) households (see table EP13 in ‘Energy Perceptions’ tables).

A similar proportion of fuel poor and non-fuel poor households monitor their energy “very” or fairly” closely