Current status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the average annual cost in 2025 is to heat a home in (a) Scotland and (b) Shetland.
The Scottish Government does not produce estimates of actual average annual costs of heating homes.
The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) publishes Annual domestic energy bills tables at Annual domestic energy bills - GOV.UK which provide annual estimates of gas and electricity bills. These are available at a Scotland and regional level, including for North Scotland.
As part of the Scottish House Condition Survey, the Scottish Government produces estimates of average fuel bills, which includes heating homes to specific heating regimes, as set out in The Fuel Poverty (Enhanced Heating) (Scotland) Regulations 2020, as part of the Scottish definition of fuel poverty, as set out in Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019. However, these estimates do not represent actual costs paid by households. However, beyond exact averages we are very conscious of differentials and heightened costs in rural and island Scotland and factor this in to all our relevant decision making.