Government's fuel poverty strategy branded a "disaster"
28/03/2008
Help the Aged has branded the Government’s fuel poverty strategy "a social disaster".
Responding to the 6th Annual Report from the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG) which highlights funding shortfalls in the Government’s fuel poverty strategy to reach its targets for eliminating fuel poverty, Mervyn Kohler, special adviser for Help the Aged, says: “The FPAG report shows how ineffective the Government's fuel poverty strategy has become. It’s not just a policy failure – it’s a social disaster for the estimated one in six older households struggling to live in fuel poverty.
“The number of households in fuel poverty is set to reach the highest level in over a decade. But fuel poverty is not just a statistic - it is a measure, however approximate, of the pain and misery, illness and even death which stems from people living in cold homes which are expensive to adequately heat.
“The response from Government has so far been unbelievably short-sighted. A quick-fix, one-off rise in the next Winter Fuel Payment falls well short of a long term solution and does absolutely nothing to address the environmental implications of fuel poverty. People living in hard to heat homes unwittingly add to global warming through domestic energy emissions.
“Both for social and environmental reasons, the Government must look again at its fuel poverty activities and develop a more plausible and vigorous energy efficiency strategy supported by a realistic business plan.”
The FPAG report shows:
• The number of households in England in fuel poverty are rising - possibly to 2.9m (including 2.3m 'vulnerable households') in 2007;
• The flagship Warm Front programme to help vulnerable households with energy efficiency improvements has been cut;
• Energy prices are increasing, and now stand 50 per cent in real terms above their 2003 levels;
• Customers on pre-payment meters are now paying £145 a year more than those on direct debit or online accounts.