Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland

• Area-based schemes
• Warmer Homes Scotland
• Home Energy Scotland grants and loans

The Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS) is the Scottish government initiative to tackle fuel poverty. It is a cluster of programmes currently including:

•area-based schemes, managed by local authorities (see here);
•Warmer Homes Scotland, managed by Warmworks Scotland (see here);
•a grant and loans scheme, managed by Home Energy Scotland (see here).

For all HEEPS schemes, you initially need to call Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282 or via homeenergyscotland.org.

Area-based schemes

HEEPS area-based schemes provide energy efficiency measures in deprived areas. Local authorities choose which areas are eligible and what measures are available. Whether you qualify depends on your postcode. You may qualify whether you own or rent your home.

Warmer Homes Scotland

Warmer Homes Scotland aims to help low-income and vulnerable homeowners and private sector tenants improve the energy efficiency of their homes. Measures available include improvements in central heating systems, insulation improvements, draught proofing and installation of renewable technologies.

If you are a private tenant and your landlord has statutory duties under the statutory Repairing Standard (see here), you cannot receive measures that your landlord is legally obliged to provide. You are still eligible for other measures available under the scheme if they are recommended for the property – eg, renewables.

To be eligible:

•you must be the homeowner or a private tenant and live in the property as your main residence and have lived there for at least six months (unless you have a DS1500 certificate); and
•the property must have an energy rating of 64 or lower and must not be more than 230 square metres in floor size; and
•the property must meet the tolerable living standard (see here) set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. If it does not, this must not impact on the effectiveness of the measures recommended for installation under the scheme; and
•you must not have received support for energy efficiency measures through Warmer Homes Scotland or HEEPS in the last five years.

At least one of the following must also apply:1Reg 6 The Home Energy Assistance Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2013 No.148

•you (or a member of your household or your partner) are aged 60 or over and have no working heating system and get a qualifying benefit (also known as a ‘passport’ benefit – see below);
•you are aged over 75 and get a qualifying benefit;
•you are pregnant or have a child under 16 and get a qualifying benefit;
•you get:
◦personal independence payment (PIP) or adult disability payment (ADP) at any rate; or
◦disability living allowance (DLA) or child disability payment (CDP) (care or mobility component) at the highest rate; or
◦DLA (care or mobility component) at the lowest/middle rate and be in receipt of an income-related benefit;
•you get carer’s allowance (CA) or carer support payment (CSP);
•you get armed forces independence payment (AFIP) or war disablement pension;
•you get industrial injuries disablement benefit.

Qualifying benefits

The qualifying benefits for the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme are:

- AFIP;

- attendance allowance;

- CA/CSP;

- council tax reduction;

- DLA/CDP (care or mobility component) at the highest rate or PIP/ADP;

- industrial injuries disablement benefit;

- pension credit guarantee credit;

- universal credit (UC) or a benefit UC is replacing – ie, income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, housing benefit, child tax credit or working tax credit;

- war disablement pension.

 

To make an application, call Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282 or use the contact form at homeenergyscotland.org/find-funding-grants-and-loans/warmer-homes-scotland.

 

1     Reg 6 The Home Energy Assistance Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2013 No.148 »

Home Energy Scotland grants and loans

The Scottish government introduced grants for the installation of energy efficiency measures and low-carbon heating solutions. You could get grants up to £15,000: up to £7,500 for energy efficiency improvements (eg, insulation) and up to £7,500 for low-carbon heating systems (eg, air source heat pumps). If you live in a rural area, you can get up to an extra £1,500 for energy efficiency improvements and up to £1,500 extra for heating systems.

Interest-free loans are also available under HEEPS for owner-occupiers and private sector landlords to improve their properties. The loans can be used to provide gap funding for measures for households or to support private sector landlords to take forward improvements.

To start an application, call Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282. Once completed, submit your application to the Energy Saving Trust with your chosen quote. You are strongly advised to seek at least three quotes, particularly if you are considering installing more expensive measures.

Your eligibility is assessed, including undertaking credit and affordability checks. If you are successful, you are offered a grant/loan. Work cannot start until you have received a written loan offer. There is an administrative fee of 1.5 per cent of the total loan value up to a maximum of £150 per application.