Budget 2008: Energy

Wednesday 12th March 2008 at 00:00

ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on the energy measures in chancellor Alistair Darling's 2008 Budget.

To send a comment to Age Concern click here

Gordon Lishman, director general, said: "An increase to the winter fuel payment this year is a spoonful of sugar to make the bad medicine Budget go down for pensioners. Although this announcement is welcome many older people will feel it is nowhere near enough to address the cocktail of price hikes they have had to swallow this year.

"With limited room to manoeuvre, this Budget suggests older people are not among the chancellor's key priorities."

"Whilst increases to the winter fuel payment this year are good news in the short-term, we need to see a long-term solution for the estimated 2.25 million older people in fuel poverty.

"Vague promises on extra help on pre-payment meter charges and social tariffs simply aren't enough for the government to meet its target on fuel poverty. A radical new package of measures should be introduced to target all of those in fuel poverty.

"Energy industry profits and the extra VAT revenue the government receives could have been re-directed into providing targeted support for the poorest pensioners and other groups hit hardest by the hikes. We wanted to see the £200 winter fuel payment raised to at least £300 and significant investment made in energy efficiency schemes, in particular increasing the maximum warm front grant available.

"Through the Energy Bill the government should also make it compulsory for energy companies to offer meaningful social tariffs to vulnerable groups."

Stakeholder response: Anchor Trust

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Dr John Belcher, chief executive, said: "I now call on the Chancellor to give statutory weight to the increase in social tariffs for those in greatest need, before fuel costs for older people begin to rise exponentially.

"Tariffs, the Winter Fuel Payments and other mechanisms to reduce fuel poverty must keep pace with rising fuel costs, which are likely to increase still further over the coming year.

"Many older people who live in their own homes are terrified at the prospect of fuel bills rising still further, and with food and water costs also increasing, often have to make the decision whether to heat their home or eat a good square meal.

"Older people should not be forced to make such a difficult decision about their own welfare."

A spokesperson said: "Dr Belcher also called on more local authorities to make good use of increased funding to the Government’s Home Front initiative, which helps the most vulnerable households – including older people – improve the energy efficiency of their homes and cut their fuel bills.

"The Government has pledged to increase funding for Warm Front by £800 million from now until 2011.

"But Anchor wants the grant to be more accessible to older people, and for Warm Zones and similar affordable warmth strategies to be established in every local authority area across England, to empower older people to improve their energy efficiency.

"Anchor’s own home improvement agency business, Anchor Staying Put, is able to help older people access Warm Front funding and to work with Warm Zones to offer services such as gas appliance servicing.

"Anchor Staying Put already does a fantastic work in many local authority areas, but we would like to be able to do more, and would encourage councils to be more proactive in accessing Warm Front grants and set up local Warm Zones."

Stakeholder response: Help the Aged

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Mervyn Kohler, spokesperson, said: "This was a Budget that simply hasn't delivered enough for older people struggling with the soaring cost of living.

"Fuel bills, water rates, Council Tax and even food and other basics are all increasing way beyond the pitiful rises in the basic state pension and Pension Credit.

"As a result, more older people will face tough choices over the course of this year when what was hoped for was genuine action on pensioner poverty.

"The Chancellor rightly spoke much about families and children, but older people themselves merited only the most cursory mention. The signal this sends speaks volumes.

"It is a badge of shame that Alistair Darling has not taken more decisive action to combat the evils of fuel poverty. The one-off increase in the Winter Fuel Payment is nothing more than a sticking plaster which will fail to help pensioners over the long term.

"Older people need far more than gestures while energy prices spiral ever upwards.

"The announcement of a voluntary code on smart meters and more pressure on energy providers to introduce wider social tariffs is puny. This is a clear case of the Government passing the buck.

"This Budget also failed to address the issue of benefit take-up. £4.5 billion worth of entitlements for pensioners goes unclaimed each and every year and is instead used by the Chancellor on Government expenditure elsewhere. That money should be going to older people themselves.

"Automatic payment of benefits would help solve this problem by ensuring pensioners can make simpler claims for key benefits.

"Help the Aged calls on Ministers to deliver policy change which would deliver this and finally end the scourge of pensioner poverty, a cause which this Government appears to have left behind.

"All in all, this is a Budget which was long on warm words but which lacked the long-term solutions our pensioner population so urgently needs."

Stakeholder response: Unite

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A spokesperson told ePolitix.com: "Unite is urging on Alistair Darling to tackle tax inequalities and rein in excess energy companies' profits with a windfall tax in this Wednesday's Budget."

Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, joint general secretaries, said: "The measures were essential to promote fairness, tackle fuel poverty and to send clear and positive messages to Labour supporters.

"It is barely comprehensible that energy companies are announcing multi-billion pound profits and at the same pushing through massive price hikes.

"When we have so many people, especially pensioners, the low paid and those on benefits, in the throes of fuel poverty, it does not make sense to ordinary people.

"The government should ignore claims that investment will suffer and prices will need to rise if a windfall tax is levied. He also rejected accusations that the union is anti-profit.

"The point of a windfall tax is it is a one-off tax. The energy companies have benefited from high world prices. They did nothing to affect that but they have reaped the benefits".

Derek Simpson said the chancellor needed to tackle inequality.

"Unite wants to see the chancellor tackling the blatant tax inequalities which enable the wealthiest individuals and international corporations to avoid their tax liabilities to the tune of £25bn a year.

"We want the government to go further on its planned flat £30,000 charge on non-domiciled tax payers and introduce the same tax regime for them as for everyone else.

"An equitable tax system, whereby everyone pays their fair share, could also have a huge positive impact on public expenditure.

"For example, the government's plans to cut public expenditure by £30bn could be radically reversed if non-doms paid tax relative to their income. This would enable the government to build 50 new hospitals or increase the pay of all public sector workers in line with average earnings."