About us

The Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel was first appointed on 1st January 2022. We are an advisory non-departmental public body which provides independent advice to Scottish Ministers on fuel poverty and scrutiny of their progress towards delivering Scotland’s 2040 fuel poverty targets. As well as the 2040 target to, effectively, eradicate fuel poverty, there are two interim targets: the 2035 target that no more than 10% of households are in fuel poverty, no more than 3% are in extreme fuel poverty and the median fuel poverty gap is no more than £300, and the 2030 target – just four years away – that no more than 15% of households in Scotland are in fuel poverty, no more than 5% are in extreme fuel poverty and the median fuel poverty gap is no more than £350.

We are here to help the Scottish Government work on short, medium and long-term fuel poverty issues and potential solutions, including how support can best be provided to those in, or entering, fuel poverty.

The Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act 2019 sets out specific requirements for the Panel in relation to fuel poverty. These include:

• Commenting on Scottish Ministers progress on fuel poverty targets.
• Advising Scottish Ministers on how policies and programmes are addressing the four drivers of fuel poverty: high energy prices; poor energy efficiency of the home; low household income, and energy consumption.

The Tackling Fuel Poverty Strategy 2021 extends the Panel’s role to include:

• Supporting an evidence-based approach to fuel poverty which puts those with lived experience at its centre.
• Advising on the delivery of the Fuel Poverty Strategy, including on the mechanism for how the strategy-delivery is monitored and evaluated.
• Championing and fostering a collaborative approach to addressing fuel poverty across Scotland.
• Advising Scottish Ministers on the impact of new evidence, technologies, and opportunities to tackle fuel poverty.

We are a small Panel of six members and worked 81 days this  year. We operated as a Panel of four until the appointment of our two new members in January 2026 and were supported by a Secretariat of 2.5.

We collectively have experience of working to support – either directly or indirectly – those struggling to manage their energy bills. We bring knowledge of the strategies and policies across the fuel poverty landscape and the wider energy system, fuel poverty research, the health impacts of fuel poverty, how housing condition can mitigate or exacerbate fuel poverty, as well as first-hand and real-life experience of how difficult life can be when fuel bills become unaffordable.