Key findings

Between January and May 2025, ALIenergy, Scarf, and TIG were commissioned by the Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel (SFPAP) to carry out focus groups looking at rural and remote fuel poverty. 81 participants took part in 12 focus groups in rural and remote areas of Scotland. Focus groups were held in the following areas:

Aberdeenshire – Stonehaven (6 participants)
Perth and Kinross – Perth (8 participants)
Highland – Thurso, Lairg (24 participants)
Argyll and Bute – Oban, Taynuilt, Campbeltown (31 participants)
Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Western Isles) – Stornoway and Galson (12 participants)

The following themes were discussed by participants:

1. Rural specific drivers of fuel poverty

Participants highlighted that colder, wetter, and windier weather in rural Scotland mean that there is a higher heating requirement throughout the year, with no opportunity to create a buffer in summer to help pay for winter
Participants said that a lack of insulation in housing combined with local weather conditions causes condensation, damp, and mould in properties
Participants also highlighted challenges in accessing local resources, including supermarkets, post offices, support services, employment and public transport. This can make accessing energy challenging and can also cause wider affordability issues
In terms of unregulated fuels, participants felt that the upfront cost of filling an oil tank, or buying coal or LPG is too high for someone in fuel poverty to afford. Participants discussed a range of coping mechanisms, including monitoring prices and buying when they are lower
Participants also discussed the challenges of using all electric heating systems. Storage heaters were described as being expensive to run, exacerbated by a lack of supplier choice for their meter type and high electricity standing charges. Participants discussed coping mechanisms, including self-disconnection
A small number of participants had had heat pumps installed, and while they enjoyed an increased level of thermal comfort they had seen no bill reduction and found large bill fluctuations hard to manage

2. Rural fuel poverty since the COVID-19 pandemic, cost of living and energy crisis

Participants in the Western Isles highlighted that they had always struggled with heating costs and viewed blaming the cost of living crisis or COVID-19 pandemic for this as a “bit of a get out clause”
Many other participants generally felt that their energy usage increased during the COVID-19 pandemic because they and their families were at home more, using more energy. This occurred at a time when some participants’ income went down resulting in energy debt, which has continued to build up during the energy crisis
Participants highlighted that the energy crisis is not over for them, but that they now do not get any support from schemes like the Energy Bills Support Scheme
Participants described various coping mechanisms including using warm spaces; choosing between eating and heating; only heating certain rooms or themselves with hot water bottles and blankets, and using washing machines and other white goods at night, during off peak electricity rates

3. Metering

Participants felt that the radio teleswitch (RTS) switch off and its consequences have been poorly advertised and as a result there was a lack of public awareness
Participants who had tried to have their RTS meters changed had faced challenges including a lack of understanding of metering issues from suppliers; supplier misinformation; a lack of trained engineers; an inability to make engineer appointments, and appointment cancellations
Participants discussed issues with getting engineer appointments in relation to smart meters too. They also faced issues with connectivity, with a lack of signal meaning that they either couldn’t get a smart meter installed or that, when installed, it did not work in smart mode
However, a small number of participants who had successfully had smart meters installed discussed their benefits, including helping with budgeting and simplifying the process of topping up for people with a pre-payment meter

4. Support interventions

Participants felt that the support they had received from third sector organisations was vital, emphasising the importance of having someone local to talk to
Participants highlighted that support could be improved through more partnership working between organisations, and more of a focus on holistic working. The need for more funding for support organisations was also stressed
Participants also discussed the need for energy market reform, including the introduction of a social tariff, zonal pricing, and standing charge reform
Participants had a number of recommendations relating to social and new build housing. The importance of insulation and quality windows and doors was stressed, as was the installation of renewable heating systems instead of oil or storage heating systems
Participants in one focus group described experiencing issues with the quality of work by “overnight contractors” (contractors who come to an area specially to do a job) when carrying out retrofitting projects/heating system changes. Participants said that they would prefer to use local contractors
Participants in multiple focus groups felt that wind and solar farms should make higher and fairer contributions to local communities and Scotland as a whole. The need for local community ownership of wind developments was also discussed