An extra £5 million of Scottish Government money is to be used to tackle fuel poverty.
Infrastructure Secretary Alex Neil said spending this year would be raised to £53m as he warned rocketing energy prices mean as many as one million households could be hit by the problem.
The money will be used to provide insulation and heating systems for those most at risk of fuel poverty under the energy assistance package.
He also announced that Scottish Government funding for fuel poverty and energy efficiency programmes is to rise by 35% from this year’s total by 2014-15.
People are classed as suffering from fuel poverty if they spend 10% or more of their disposable income on fuel bills.
Mr Neil said: ”The dramatic increases in fuel prices announced this summer could push up to 170,000 additional households in Scotland into fuel poverty taking the total to one million.
”This government is determined to tackle fuel poverty head on and made increased funds available to do so.
”I am very pleased to announce that funding for Scottish Government fuel poverty and energy efficiency programmes will be £65 million in 2012-13 and 2013-14, rising to £66.25 million in 2014-15.
”That is a 35% increase on the £48 million being provided in 2011-12 and illustrates very clearly the importance we are giving to supporting households affected by fuel poverty.
”We are proud of the action we are taking. We are determined to do everything in our power to reduce and eventually eliminate fuel poverty in Scotland.”
However, opposition parties said the extra cash was only a partial reversal of earlier cuts in spending in the area.
Labour’s Lewis Macdonald said the government was to ”restore, at least in part, the cuts in funding to tackle fuel poverty which were made in the current year.”
He added: ”These welcome increases still do not take funding to the position that it was in 2010-11.”
Conservative Alex Johnstone also referred to a ”fluctuation” in financial support.
The North East Scotland MSP said: ”What we have heard today is in effect a reversal of some of the cuts that may have happened previously.”
Green MSP Patrick Harvie said the extra spending was a ”partial reversal of this year’s fuel poverty cut” and there was ”still a question” about the Government’s priorities.
First minister Alex Salmond will hold a summit with the big six energy companies later this year.