Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Energy bills advice service flooded with calls for help from northern Scotland

Man calculating electric bill statement and home energy consumption. Image: Shutterstock
Man calculating electric bill statement and home energy consumption. Image: Shutterstock

Calls to an energy advice service rocketed across the north and north-east last year as desperate residents sought help with crippling power bills.

New figures show 115,000 people across the nation contacted the Home Energy Scotland advice service in 2021-22 – a rise of 27% on the previous year.

But the number soared by an even higher rate in parts of northern Scotland, including by 62% in Aberdeenshire and by 61% in Moray.

Above average rises of about 30% were also recorded in Aberdeen City and Orkney, while there was an increase of more than 20% in both Highland and Shetland.

The 6,824 calls last year from Aberdeehshire residents and 5,988 from Highland were topped only by the figures for Edinburgh, Glasgow and Fife.

Home Energy Scotland, funded by the Holyrood government and managed by the Energy Saving Trust, offers free and impartial advice to help people create warmer homes, reduce their energy bills, and lower their carbon footprint.

A total of 663,670 households have accessed the its advice service since 2015.

It estimates it has helped save over £1 billion on domestic energy bills since the service was established in 2008.

Northern Scotland has long suffered some of the worst rates of fuel poverty in the UK, due to colder weather, higher electricity distribution charges and a lack of access to the gas grid.

‘Severity of the issue’ highlighted

The figures were published by Green minister Patrick Harvie in response to parliamentary questions lodged by Conservative MSP Miles Briggs.

Last night, Mr Briggs said: “The rising number of households contacting the Home Energy Scotland advice service highlights the severity of the issue facing people across the country who are struggling to heat their homes.

“The UK Government’s Budget last week will provide significant help in tackling this and the wider cost-of-living crisis.

Miles Briggs MSP. Image: Fraser Bremner

“Extending the energy price cap for three months is a welcome step to help families pay energy bills and the Scottish Government will also receive £320 million due to other funding commitments which were announced.”

In response to Mr Briggs question, Mr Harvie said: “Since 2017, householders contacting Home Energy Scotland have been asked whether their home is hard to heat or they are worried about their bills.

“Householders living in or at risk of fuel poverty may also have received advice from other publicly funded advice services.”

Conversation