News / SIC to receive £1m to make homes more energy efficient
SHETLAND Islands Council is set to receive over £1 million this year to make homes more energy efficient.
The money is part of the Scottish Government’s Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland scheme.
The council’s carbon management team leader Mary Lisk said the total amount of funding for 2018/19, which is £1,030,719, is broadly similar to the money the council received the previous year.
The scheme, which is paying out £49 million this year nationally, focuses on retrofitting work like insulation in private homes in council bands A-D and its formula is calculated on levels of fuel poverty.
Over half of households in Shetland are in fuel poverty, meaning they spend more than 10 per cent of their income to maintain normal heating.
Scottish housing minister Kevin Stewart admitted that there are “still far too many people struggling with unaffordable energy costs”.
“This latest round of funding is part of a package of measures to make homes across Scotland more energy efficient,” he said.
“We have recently consulted on a new fuel poverty strategy, including a new definition and target, that will inform our fuel poverty bill which will be laid before parliament this summer.”
For more information on the scheme, contact the council’s carbon management team on 01595 744 179 or e-mail carbonmanagement@shetland.gov.uk.
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