Energy pressures ease but many households struggling with costs
A new Consumer Scotland report explores the continued impact of fuel costs.
Consumer Scotland has this week published the Winter 2023-24 wave of its Energy Affordability Tracker. For this, YouGov surveyed a sample of 1,609 households in Scotland across January and February.
The survey finds that energy affordability pressures have eased and that households are managing better financially than at any point since the first wave of the survey in Spring 2022. However, there remains a significant proportion of households that struggle with their energy costs, and particular consumer groups continue to disproportionately report energy affordability challenges compared to others.
In this report, Consumer Scotland takes a specific focus on energy debt and sets the policy context around some of the key consumer insights on energy debt from the survey, including that:
- 9% of respondents reported that they were in energy debt
- The strongest associations with energy debt come from having a disability that limits a lot, having a health condition, and having a child under the age of 5 in the household
- While 44% were confident that they would be able to clear the debt or arrears, a slightly larger number - 48% - were not confident