Orkney burns through home energy efficiency funds

Orkney Islands Council and the local Warmworks team have been helping make local homes cosier at record pace in recent months, with funding awarded to the county by the Scottish Government all but spoken for – at just over half way through the project year.

The Council was awarded £1.21m for home energy efficiency measures in the county for 2024-25 from the Scottish Government’s 2024-25 Heat and Energy Efficient Scotland: Area Based Scheme (HEES: ABS) - with caseload and installation handled by the Council’s contracted managing agent, Warmworks, who have a local office in Kirkwall and work with local contractors to install energy efficiency measures.

But with virtually all that money already allocated to local householders, the Council says their hope is the Scottish Government will now consider reallocating any underspend across the £64m national pot to areas like Orkney where demand from householders for the scheme remains high - before the scheme year ends in early summer 2025.

In recent years, the scheme has gone from strength to strength in Orkney, with £1.86m worth of energy efficiency measures installed in Orkney homes in 2023-24, and £1.74m in 2022-23*.

Together, and based on this success, the Council’s Housing team and Warmworks Scotland had bid for £2.25m for the 2024-25 year, with the hope that Orkney’s past performance would place the county in good stead to receive the full amount requested.

However against a backdrop of ongoing budget challenges for the Scottish Government, Orkney's allocation dropped by over £750k on last year’s award.

Councillor Gwenda Shearer is Chair of the Council’s Education, Leisure and Housing Committee. She says the Council is taking every opportunity to put forward a case for further funds to be released to Orkney:

“We’re grateful for the ongoing support from the Scottish Government for this scheme which has made such an impact locally over the years. Demand for the scheme in Orkney has grown in recent years, and remains high, as is demonstrated by the speed with which this year’s funding has already been exhausted.

"Officers have been working hard behind the scenes to keep our success front and centre with the Scottish Government, so that we stand a good chance of picking up any underspend from elsewhere in the country.

“We have also been highlighting the initiatives and caseload we could pull off the shelf and run with immediately – which even at this late stage in the scheme’s year we think could bring us very close to the previous years’ spend.

“However to meet scheme deadlines and keep up the great momentum created over the last few years, we would need to have some assurances from the Scottish Government early in the new year.”

Meanwhile, home owners who are looking to try and improve the energy efficiency of their property are encouraged to speak to Warmworks, who can advise on other sources of help and/or offer an assessment for eligibility for future HEES: ABS funding.

Call the Kirkwall Warmworks team on their freephone 0800 038 6022 or email orkney@warmworks.co.uk

You can also visit Warmworks’ office in Kirkwall at the following address (no appointment needed): 2 West Tankerness Lane, Kirkwall, KW15 1AL.