Chamber and committees

Thank you.

I actually talked about “the Scottish Government programmes”. However, I think that you have answered the question, and I am aware that we are tight for time, so I will move on to ask about a similar programme.

The UK Government, which you have mentioned several times, is looking to expand and extend its warm home discount scheme, which would help 280,000 Scottish households with their energy bills. The UK Government is going to put an extra £13 million into that. Is the Scottish Government doing something similar to help Scottish people with their energy bills?

Good morning. To get into a couple of specific issues, I will go back to a question that the convener asked. Roger Curtis said that the rough cost of retrofitting a property is £20,000. Teresa Bray followed that by conceding the convener’s point that, if retrofitting is not done, there could be a drop in house price. She suggested that a blip in the property market would be beneficial. I counter that by saying that a blip would not be beneficial for people who have bought their house but who do not have £20,000 or the time to retrofit. They could end up in negative equity. How can people who are in that situation be persuaded to retrofit?

To reflect that back, I think that that means that the current programmes will not deliver consumer savings to the ambition that is required by this winter. You can come back on that point if you want, cabinet secretary.

I want to briefly follow up on the answers that two of you gave to Jackie Dunbar in relation to tenements. Replacing a window might be the best thing to do, but that is not cheap. Even replacing just one window is not cheap. Again, the question seems to be: who pays for that? People who have bought, say, a two-bedroom flat will not necessarily be fuel poor, but, equally, they will not be able to spend £20,000 to put in a new window or to put stuff in the walls to insulate the property. Who should pay for that?

Cabinet secretary, you said that nuclear generation takes a long time to produce and needs a subsidy. The convener has pointed out the contract for difference regime and its importance. When do you expect the ScotWind programme to be providing 25GW of electricity?

It certainly will be a difficult conversation.

My next question is for Elaine Waterson. Teresa Bray talked about loan funding, and the Energy Saving Trust delivers the Home Energy Scotland programme for the Scottish Government. Your most recent annual report highlights that interest-free loan funding of £38,500 is available to owners and landlords to help with energy efficiency and installations. In 2021, the number of loans that were given out to properties was just under 1,300. There are around 1.9 million private properties in Scotland, which begs a few questions. Is the Home Energy Scotland funding sufficient, why is take-up so low, and how can it be increased?

On a slightly different side of things, after so many failures of new entrants to the market there has been a consolidation of legacy suppliers. That can reduce competition and consumer choice. In your view, how can the UK Government ensure increased competition and innovation with the effect of ensuring value for money and driving decarbonisation and net zero?

Minister, on the line of questioning that we have just heard, Chris O’Shea, who is the chief executive officer of British Gas, which is owned by Centrica, said today that a windfall tax would hit investment and push up costs in the longer term. Could the windfall tax that is being proposed result in increased costs to consumers?

I am very grateful, minister; I have no further questions.