Edinburgh – Fuel Poverty Mapping

Overview

The fuel poverty maps in the attached report are broken down into discrete property areas called data zones. Data zones contain approximately 300 households each and therefore can vary in geographic size. There are two primary map images in the report; the fuel poverty percentage and the total number of households in fuel poverty within each data zone, where the colour coding is relative to the city average.

The areas of Edinburgh that have high levels of fuel poverty are:

·         Muirhouse

·         West Pilton

·         Granton

The report also contains general fuel poverty statistics for Edinburgh:

·         On average 22.7% of households per data zone are fuel poor

·         67 data zones in Edinburgh are above the national average for % fuel poor households

·         319 fuel poor households identified in Leith Docks

The report also compares fuel poverty levels and fuel bills data. This map shows that many households in areas of fuel poverty have lower-than-average fuel bills, which suggests that fuel poor household’s under-heat their homes.

Using the report

Council staff, community groups and other organisations can use this report to develop projects and target specific areas of the city that may need fuel poverty programmes and advice.

The report and underlying data could also be used to support bids for improvements to homes, such as insulation, in local communities.

Where possible, the fuel poverty maps could be used with other local information such as the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation to enable targeting of energy efficiency and heating provision to areas that are most in need.

Find out more

Once Council staff and community groups have identified households that may benefit from advice, support or other projects, further advice can be obtained from Changeworks. For example, Changeworks advisers can help to set up local energy efficiency events.

The Home Energy Scotland Advice Centre can be contacted for assistance on energy efficiency schemes. This includes advice on the various funding options available through direct grants to households or funding for renewable energy projects. The Advice Centre’s service can also be promoted to people living in areas of high fuel poverty, for example, sections of the city containing a high number of single pensioner households.

Useful contacts

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/homeenergy

Home Energy Scotland: Free Phone 0808 808 2282

Changeworks: 0131 555 4010 www.changeworks.org.uk

Scottish Government website: fuel poverty.