Government faces day in court over fuel poverty failure

By Tony Watts - Editor - 03/10/2008

This coming Monday (6 October) will see the Government in the High Court, defending its failed strategy on eradicting fuel poverty.

 

Although the Government is legally bound to do all that is reasonably possible to eradicate fuel poverty for vulnerable households by 2010 and for all households by 2016, five million households in the United Kingdom will struggle to heat and power their homes this winter.

 

In this year alone, millions more people have moved into 'fuel poverty' (defined as spending more than 10% of one's income on heating and lighting).

 

Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged are calling on 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. The charities have filed for a judicial review - the legal procedure used to challenge public authorities.

 

They are arguing that that the Government has broken the law by not doing everything reasonably practicable to meet its fuel poverty targets, and hope that the High Court will order the Government to fulfil its legal commitment.

 

The case will highlight:

· 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;

· That the Government itself has admitted that targets to reduce and eventually eliminate fuel poverty will be missed.

 

Friends of the Earth’s Executive Director Andy Atkins said: “The Government has a legal commitment to help lift people out of fuel poverty, but society’s most vulnerable are suffering and dying because their homes are leaking heat.”

 

“The only long term solution to fuel poverty is a massive energy efficiency programme. This will heat homes, cut bills and help meet our targets for tackling climate change.

 

Mervyn Kohler, Special Adviser for Help the Aged, says: “Though fuel poverty is high on the media and political agendas, Government actions to reduce it fall far short of the crisis it is creating for millions of pensioners and low-income families.

 

“It is vital that the Government comes up with an effective strategy for tackling fuel poverty. Low income households need crisis payments simply to get through the coming winter, but in the longer term, the energy efficiency of our homes must be improved. The Government has a legal duty to do this.”