Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan has confirmed the Scottish
Government will not introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill in the
current session of the Scottish Parliament, following delays to
the UK Government's Warm Homes Plan and lack of clarity on cost
of energy bills.
In a statement, Ms McAllan said she would not ask the Scottish
Parliament to consider such an important Bill now with little
time and without a full understanding of the UK policy context,
due to several key policy levers being reserved and decisions
delayed.
Ms McAllan reaffirmed the Scottish Government's commitment to
decarbonising buildings in Scotland by 2045 in a way that does
not exacerbate fuel poverty, and announced additional grant
support for homeowners of up to £7,500 (or up to £9,000 for
households in island and remote rural areas) from December to
incentivise connections to local heat networks.
The Housing Secretary also said the government intended to bring
forward legislation as early as possible in the next
parliamentary session, subject to the outcome of the 2026
election and clarity on the UK Government position. A draft
Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks
(Scotland) Bill has been published to give clarity to households
and investors on future plans for legislation.
Màiri McAllan said:
“Decarbonising how we heat our homes and buildings is a vital
step in our efforts to tackle climate change. We must take action
and in a way that does not worsen fuel poverty. The Scottish
Government is fully committed to this by 2045, as set out in our
draft Climate Change Plan.
“We have always been clear that our plans depend on essential
clarity from the UK Government, but repeated delays to their Warm
Homes Plan have left key questions unanswered – particularly on
how they intend to make the switch to clean heat more affordable
by reducing the cost of electricity.
“This is critical in ensuring decarbonising homes does not
exacerbate fuel poverty at a time of spiralling energy
bills.
“Ultimately, it is perverse that Scottish Ministers should be in
the dark about plans related to Scotland's own energy resources.
If we had all the powers of a normal country – including over our
own energy resources and market – we would not be in this
position.
“In the meantime, we are determined to continue to press ahead
with our existing decarbonisation agenda including developing
heat networks as a significant investment proposition and viable
heating source for households. Therefore, I am pleased to confirm
the extension of grant funding for households to connect to local
district heat networks, bringing it into line with grants
available to install heat pumps.”
Since 2020, the Scottish Government has allocated £1.67 billion
of funding through its Heat in Buildings schemes, including over
£840 million for energy efficiency and clean heat projects. Since
2020, the Scottish Government has supported an average of 15,000
households a year to decarbonise, including those in or at risk
of fuel poverty and since the launch of Warmer Homes Scotland
have helped over 47,000 households across Scotland to live in
warmer homes that are more affordable to heat.
Background
The draft Buildings (Heating
and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill
includes:
- A heat decarbonisation target to replace direct emission
heating systems in all Scottish buildings, as far as reasonably
practicable, by 2045;
- A regulation-making power to set a Minimum Energy Performance
Standard for owner-occupied and non-domestic buildings that use
direct emission heating systems; and
- Provisions to encourage the development of heat networks,
including a regulation-making power to require qualifying
buildings within a heat network zone to connect to the heat
network, or decarbonise their heating system
Grant support will be introduced for homeowners to enable
connections to heat networks through the Home Energy Scotland
Grant and Loan scheme. Up to £7,500 of grant funding will
now be available to homeowners, in addition to the optional
£7,500 interest free loan. For those that qualify for
island/remote rural uplift through the scheme, an additional
£1,500 of grant funding will be available.
The Scottish Government separately consulted on proposals for a
Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard for the private rented sector
earlier this year and will launch a targeted further consultation
in the new year on detailed proposals for heat network
installation and maintenance licences.
The Scottish Government has also recently laid new Energy
Performance Certificate (EPC) regulations which will bring an
improved EPC rating system into force in autumn 2026.
