Question reference: S6W-18071
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 18 May 2023
-
Current status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 5 June 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many households it estimates will be supported through its new Warmer Homes Scotland Scheme.
Answer
The Warmer Homes Scotland successor will be a demand led scheme, i.e. the number of households supported will depend on the number of households contacting the scheme, which reduces the accuracy of any estimates of households that will benefit. Substantial changes in customer volumes are not anticipated in the new scheme in comparison to Warmer Homes Scotland.
Budgets for the scheme will be set annually in line with the Scottish Budget allocation process. For example, if the budget in a given year was £60m, we envisage between 3788 – 4252 households may be supported.
The successor scheme will have a widened eligibility criteria which will allow a broader range of households to access the scheme. The scheme will adopt PAS 2035 standards, delivering whole house retrofit and with a greater emphasis on zero direct emission heating so households will on average benefit from a higher level of interventions per household.
The support offered through WHS sits alongside other help, such as our Home Energy Scotland grant scheme and our Area Based Schemes which provide local delivery of energy efficiency improvements.