“Many
cope by rationing their energy use – and often resort
to huddling together under blankets and only heating one
room. And they regularly have to juggle competing priorities
– sacrificing heat and warmth for hot food and clean
clothes, or vice versa” (National Consumer Council,
Energy Shouldn’t Cost the Earth, 2007) See
the full report here.
Today
the National Consumer Council published their blueprint
for action on affordable and sustainable energy. The report
which is called ‘Energy Shouldn’t Cost the
Earth’ reveals that almost 4 million households
– that is 5.5 million people – struggle to
afford an adequate energy supply in the UK. The National
Consumer Council offers a list of recommendations which
calls for action from the Government, Ofgem and energy
suppliers, and states that it is vital that the forthcoming
Energy White Paper looks into the root causes of fuel
poverty so that the Government can meet its own fuel poverty
targets.
A
fuel poor household is generally considered as one that
cannot afford to keep adequately warm and which needs
to spend more than 10% of its income on fuel bills to
light and heat the home to a satisfactory standard. Adequate
warmth in the home is defined as 18°C for active people
and 21°C
for those who are sick, elderly and/or disabled (World
Health Organisation).
The
Labour Government have recognised that fuel poverty is
a serious social problem and have committed themselves
to the target of eradicating fuel poverty amongst ‘vulnerable’
groups by 2010 and amongst all households by 2016 (2018
in Wales). The joint Defra and DTI report ‘The UK
Fuel Poverty Strategy 4th Annual Progress Report 2006’
stated that during 2004, 2 million people lived in fuel
poverty in the UK, with 1 ½ million of these people
being considered as ‘vulnerable’. Therefore
if we look at the figures revealed today by the National
Consumer Council, there seems to have been a dramatic
and unacceptable rise in the number of people living in
fuel poverty. The Government must take urgent action to
get its fuel poverty targets back on track.
There
are many reasons as to why a person or family might be
considered ‘fuel poor’ which includes low
income, debt, the condition of properties and energy price
rises. While there has been a recent drop in gas and electricity
prices, these price cuts are not in line with initial
fuel price rises where we saw gas prices rising by an
average 94% and electricity prices by an average 60%.
A great deal of responsibility lies with energy companies
to bring down fuel prices, and to introduce smarter and
more tailored payment methods for their customers.
At
the UK Coalition Against Poverty we agree that fuel poverty
must be fought with a combined strategy between Government,
Ofgem and energy suppliers. We also believe that the Government
itself must be far more joined up and coordinated in order
to recognise that fuel poverty does not stand in isolation
and bears relevance to numerous departments. It is unacceptable
that those on lowest incomes are not only likely to be
fuel poor, but often end up paying more for their energy
use because of the higher energy costs associated with
token pre-payment meters and energy inefficient homes.
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