The challenges of a warm home

A SURVEY has highlighted the challenges faced by Dumfries and Galloway residents when heating their homes.

Just over a third of people locally describe their home as usually or always cold, or not as warm as they’d like, while 87 per cent of residents say the increase in the cost of energy bills led them to think differently about how they use energy in their home.

Furthermore, 42 per cent have had to make cutbacks to afford paying for their energy bills and 16 per cent say they have not been able to pay their energy bills.

The findings come from Scotland-based social enterprise Changeworks which provides energy-saving advice and measures.

Its latest impact report reveals how a range of energy advice and energy efficiency measures such as insulation – delivered across social housing, rented and privately owned homes – made a real difference to householders, including those in Dumfries and Galloway.

In addition, Changeworks has highlighted a “dual challenge” for many households, including locally, saying that the financial burden of heating their homes whilst minimising the environmental impact associated with many current heating technologies such as gas boilers, with cost being the main barrier to retrofit.

They want to see more done and are calling for cross-sector collaboration to develop new services and unlock funding to deliver home retrofit at scale.

Chief executive Josiah Lockhart said: “As the findings show, a lot of people in Dumfries and Galloway are struggling to adequately heat their homes. They are also all too aware of the climate crisis, and the responsibility each of us has to do our bit to reduce our impact.

“Our expertise and scale empower householders and social housing providers to make homes warmer and cheaper to run, whilst addressing climate concerns in very practical ways.”