Government being sued - for failing to tackle fuel poverty
09/04/2008
Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged have united and today (Wednesday 9 April) are taking the Government to court, for not doing enough to meet its legal obligation to eradicate fuel poverty.
The two charities are campaigning for the Government to develop a far more effective and comprehensive programme of domestic energy efficiency, to simultaneously end suffering from fuel poverty and tackle climate change.
They say that the Government is legally bound through its own legislation to eradicate fuel poverty for vulnerable households by 2010 and for all households by 2016. But despite this nearly three million households in England are still struggling to adequately heat their homes.
By the Government’s own estimates, by 2010 there may still be 1.3 million vulnerable households in fuel poverty – nearly the same number as at the time of the Government’s Fuel Poverty Strategy in 2001.
The two charities are today filing their judicial review application – the legal procedure used to challenge public authorities – with the High Court. Their case highlights:
• Government failure to provide a comprehensive and costed plan of action for meeting its targets;
• Government failure to set a minimum standard of energy efficiency to be applied to affected households;
• Repeated criticism of the Government from the independent Fuel Poverty Advisory Group;
• The Government’s own admission that targets to reduce and eventually eliminate fuel poverty are likely to be missed.
Ed Matthew, Low Carbon Homes Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “By failing to back the highest levels of energy efficiency in the homes of the fuel poor, the Government has missed an opportunity to both end fuel poverty and bring down carbon emissions. Its strategy is incompetent and lacks vision.”
Mervyn Kohler, Special Adviser for Help the Aged, said: “The Government’s fuel poverty strategy is a fiasco and all too often, older people are the casualties. For those living in fuel poverty, the daily reality often means pain and misery, illness and even death.
“When fuel costs fell the Government was happy to take the credit for falling fuel poverty figures. Now that the energy market has changed and the importance of domestic energy consumption has grown, it must take responsibility for its inadequate and passive response.”
Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged are calling on the Government to:
• Clearly set out how it will meet its legal obligation to eliminate fuel poverty, what the costs will be and how its plans will be funded.
• Establish a mechanism for accurately identifying all those households suffering from fuel poverty.
• Recognise that ensuring high levels of energy efficiency provides the key long-term solution to ending fuel poverty
• Set a minimum standard of energy efficiency for all households being treated for fuel poverty
• Set up low-carbon home zones in every local authority in the UK in areas where fuel poverty is concentrated. The fuel-poor households in these zones should be treated street by street, house by house to the requisite energy efficiency standard.