Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Fuel poverty
Background
The Scottish Government is set to publish its Fuel Poverty Strategy in 2022. The Committee has agreed to examine this Strategy. It wants to be sure that the Strategy meets the needs of low income households. It is particularly concerned about the impact of price rises and the pandemic on those households.
The Committee met on 25 November and heard from a panel of people that support households in fuel poverty. This was followed by a meeting with people with experience of living in fuel poverty. To ensure that people were able to share their experiences in confidence, this meeting was help in private.
The meeting covered five topics:
- rural inequality
- energy efficiency programmes
- the warm home discount
- the Winter Fuel Payment
- pre-payment customers
The sessions have fed into a response which has been sent to the Scottish Government. It has also been sent to the Net-Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, who are also looking at the Strategy and have a short inquiry energy price rises.