City hopes householders will warm to tax break for insulation scheme

The city council is to provide residents with 60 off their annual council tax bill if they introduce loft or cavity wall insulation to their homes. It is part of the council's attempts to cut down on carbon emissions across the city. The rebate will initially only be available to people who pay Scottish Gas to carry out the insulation work, although council officials say they are looking at possibly including other providers in the scheme in the future. It will come into force next month, if approved by councillors later this week. However, it will only be available to those who get the work carried out after then. Environment leader Councillor Robert Aldridge said: "This scheme provides a good financial incentive for people in Edinburgh to improve energy efficiency in their homes. "It is being provided at no cost to the taxpayer thanks to Scottish Gas and will make a real contribution to reducing the city's carbon footprint." Homeowners will still need to pay Scottish Gas to carry out the work. Full loft insulation currently costs up to 274, although it is said that insulation can lead to average bill savings of around 150 a year. Green councillor Steve Burgess said: "We called for the council to look into these schemes a couple of years ago as we were aware it was happening in other areas. "It works out as about a quarter of the cost, which is a reasonable incentive. "It is a step in the right direction and anything that encourages people to insulate and become more energy efficient is welcome." Under the scheme, Scottish Gas will inform the council of every home in the city at which it carries out insulation work. It will also make a payment of 75 to the council per household. Of the 75, 15 will be kept by the council to cover the cost of administration and advertising the scheme, with the remaining 60 being deducted from the individual's council tax bill. Donald McGougan, the council's director of finance, said: "If the council enters into the scheme, there should be very little if any cost to the council, other than marketing and administration time for crediting customers' accounts and the billing of British Gas, which can be recouped from the 'referral fee'." Carol Aitken, head of corporate affairs at Scottish Gas, said: "The council tax rebate scheme is part of our commitment to local authority partnerships and energy efficiency in the housing sector in Scotland. "We are currently in discussion with around 20 local authorities to roll out this highly successful scheme. "Scottish Gas actively lobbied for an amendment to the Climate Change Bill to enable us to offer the same benefits to our Scottish customers as we have in England and Wales."