New survey reveals that 3 in 5 UK households are in fuel poverty

Thursday, 02 February 2012

Over three in five (61%) UK households admit to being in fuel poverty, according to an interactive online map produced by the national charity Turn2us. 

The map invited the public to calculate the amount they pay for fuel as a percentage of their household income and these rates have been plotted to give a visual picture of the variation up and down the country.

A household is said to be in fuel poverty if it spends 10% or more of its income on energy costs. According to Government figures, 1 in 5 households are in fuel poverty; but, this is based on data from 2009. The Turn2us results suggest that current figures are far higher. Of the people who submitted their fuel rates, 30% admitted paying between 10-15% of their household income on gas and electricity. Worryingly, around 1 in 10 (10%) people spend over 25%.

Turn2us, part of the national charity Elizabeth Finn Care, invited four women who contributed to the map to speak about their experience of living in fuel poverty. The women’s stories are captured in a short online video and they reveal the bleak reality of struggling to survive when high energy bills are a constant worry. The video is online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjauL9FhcOM.

Rita Brown, age 56 from Baildon near Bradford, spends around 20% of her income on fuel. Rita said: I’m currently unemployed and can’t afford to stay indoors. I go to the library during the day just to try and keep warm. When I wake up I have cramps because it is so cold, but I can’t afford to have the heat on.

Jayne Burnett, age 48 from London, is registered blind. She said: Because of my poor health I can’t get cold. But it’s a struggle. We live in tough economic times and everyone is making cutbacks, but none of the fuel companies appear to be doing so. They are making huge profits still, and that doesn’t seem right.’

Rob Tolan, Head of Policy and Research at Elizabeth Finn Care said:

‘As a charity that helps people in financial need across the country, we know that the issue of high fuel costs is of paramount concern to the people we assist, with nearly two fifths saying that they couldn’t afford to heat their homes before coming to us.  On top of this, over half were regularly skipping meals, indicating that in Britain, there are still people being forced to choose between whether they ‘heat or eat’.

‘Whilst we welcome the recent news that energy companies are lowering bills, this only applies to some tariffs, and the decreases do not offset the massive hikes imposed on households last year. It is time that greater pressure was brought to bear on power giants in respect to their support for their most vulnerable customers who are struggling to make ends meet.

Turn2us is still inviting the public to work out their personal ‘fuel rate’ and contribute to the interactive map at www.fuelpovertymap.org.uk, where they can also find information about charitable grants and welfare benefits that may be available to help people in financial need.