The Home Energy Scotland Grant gives you money towards a variety of energy efficiency improvements. As it’s a grant, you don’t have to pay anything back.

Extra money is also available for people in remote, rural or island areas of Scotland.

Homeowners can get up to 75% of the cost of insulation paid for by the grant. The most you can receive is £7,500, or £9,000 if you’re in a remote, rural or island area of Scotland.

An optional Home Energy Scotland Loan is also offered to top up the amount of grant funding you can get.

Home Energy Scotland funding includes:

Insulation upgrades 

• External wall insulation grants
• Cavity wall insulation grants
• Flat roof or room-in-roof insulation grants
• Loft insulation grants
• Under floor insulation grants

Renewable heating systems 

• Air source heat pump grants
• Solar panel grants (when taken as part of a package of measures).

Energy Efficient Scotland: Areas Based Schemes (EES:ABS) use government funding to improve the energy efficiency of homes. EES:ABS schemes are either free or heavily discounted.

Through an EES:ABS insulation scheme you might be able to get:

Insulation upgrades 

• External wall insulation grants
• Internal wall insulation grants
• Cavity wall insulation grants
• Under floor insulation grants

Renewable heating upgrades 

• Air source heat pumps
• Solar panels and battery storage

Most EES:ABS schemes are offered in a targeted area within your local council, but some are available right across the locality.

The Great British Insulation Scheme is a UK Government initiative, delivered through Ofgem. It mainly offers single insulation measures.

The Great British Insulation Scheme is open to vulnerable people and those on low incomes. In Scotland, it’s also available if your home has an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D-G, and your Council Tax band is A-E. 

The following home energy efficiency measures may be available to you: 

• Cavity wall insulation 
• Solid wall insulation (internal or external) 
• Loft insulation 
• Flat or pitched roof insulation 
• Underfloor insulation 
• Solid floor insulation 
• Park home insulation 
• Room-in-roof insulation 

Under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), the biggest energy suppliers have to help people improve the energy efficiency of their homes. This usually involves the energy supplier offering different kinds of insulation for free. It can also mean getting a free new boiler. 

You can apply for ECO funding through any energy supplier that takes part in the scheme. You don’t have to be with that supplier to get ECO funding from them. For example, you might be with Scottish Power but get ECO funding through Octopus. 

The main criteria for ECO are available on the Ofgem website. Different energy suppliers have different rules about what they can offer through ECO funding, and who they can offer it to. Households on income-based benefits qualify for the ECO scheme. 

Click the energy companies below to find out about their ECO schemes. If we haven’t provided a link, then it’s because we weren’t able to find info about ECO on the supplier’s website. In that case, we’d suggest calling or emailing the supplier to ask about their ECO scheme. 

• British Gas
• EDF Energy
• Octopus Energy
• Ovo Energy (including Boost and SSE) 
• Scottish Power 
• Shell Energy 
• So Energy 
• Utility Warehouse 
• Utilita