Member News
“I don’t think anyone over the last few weeks will need persuading of the need for warm homes, and yet far too many people are still vulnerable to the cold simply because they can’t afford to heat their homes.
David Heath, January 14 2009
A Private Members' Bill introduced by David Heath (Lib Dem, Somerton and Frome) that seeks to introduce two measures: A major energy efficiency programme to ‘fuel poverty proof’ existing homes by bringing them up to the current energy efficiency levels enjoyed by modern homes and the introduction of social tariffs to limit vulnerable households’ exposure to high energy bills.
The second reading debate of the Fuel Poverty Bill was opened by David Heath (Lib Dem, Somerton and Frome).
Heath commented that the Bill was good for those living in poverty, “a group that encompasses the old, young families and people with disabilities.”
He argued that the Bill was “good for the public health of the
Heath said “I believe that the mixture of sustainability and the stimulus to sectors of the economy that desperately need it is a strong point in favour of the Bill.”
Heath commented that the Bill did not “merely propose a basic insulation scheme.”
He added “It does not aim for easy targets such as cavity wall insulation, which is relatively simple to install. It contains a wider basket of measures.
He argued that microgeneration measures would be more appropriate in many rural areas.
He added, ”Put together, the measures could offer businesses a huge stimulus. They arrive exactly at the time we need them. There is an urgency to get the job done and there is the capacity within the system to help us to get it done. That is why the hon. Gentleman is absolutely right.”
The Bill requires the government to introduce a strategy to eliminate fuel poverty by 2016, Heath commented.
Heath added “Essentially it would require hard-to-heat and energy wasteful houses to be treated in a sustainable way. Therefore, it deals not only with the people who are living in those houses at the moment but with the generations to come.”
Heath stated that he though the government was taking action.
Heath commented that there were people benefiting from schemes at the moment who are not in fuel poverty. Others are not benefiting who should be given more support. Heath argued that this was one of the reason for putting the scheme on to a statutory basis.
He added “It would involve the Government determining eligibility criteria; there is a precedent for that to an extent in a recent Pensions Bill.”
Heath argued that the Bill offered a strategy to eliminate fuel poverty by 2016, to treat homes with lasting and sustainable improvements and, in the interim, to introduce a statutory social tariff.
He added “Given that we all identify climate change as the biggest and most urgent issue we face, it cannot be right that so many homes in our country leak energy—energy is wasted simply because the houses are not up to the necessary standard.”
Heath argued “If we are going to make a real difference on climate change, we must start with domestic households and stop wasting energy.”
Clause 2 made it clear the secretary of state’s duty to eradicate fuel poverty. The clause also contains provisions on energy performance certificate measurements.
Clause 3 deals with the key element: the fuel poverty strategy.
Clause 5 deals with changes to the number of properties involved and provides flexibility for the government either to accelerate or to decelerate.
Clause 6 acknowledged the fact that some properties were harder to treat than others.
Clause 7 was about prioritising, because one of the National Audit Office’s concerns about the present scheme is that it is not well targeted and seems to miss many fuel-poor people.
Clause 8 allowed for revision of the fuel poverty strategy and clause 9 imposes a duty to consult.
Clause 10 deals with social tariffs, but in the form of energy assistance packages.
Clause 11 is a safeguard: if the energy performance certificate scheme was changed, there would be no need for new primary legislation to effect those changes in definition.
Shadow minister for energy, Charles Hendry (Wealden) welcomed the Bill’s broad nature. He added “It is extremely important that it addresses issues of microgeneration and does not just deal with energy efficiency and energy conservation.”
He also agreed that fuel poverty had generally been getting worse over recent years and that home energy efficiency in this country was not good enough.
Hendry argued “We are not on track to have secure energy supplies, low-carbon energy generation or affordable energy, and those three requirements matter very much to this House and to the country outside.”
He commented that the government’s figures on fuel poverty only went as far as 2006, and showed that 3.5 million households were in fuel poverty then, compared to 1.8 million in 2005.
He added “One of the challenges that we face is the real risk that the lights in this country will go out within the decade, and we need to secure massive new investment in our energy plant.”
He argued that homes in the
The Bill sets out the need for targets and a delivery plan, Hendry said “All too often, targets are set without a road map—without a delivery plan or solid methods of measuring progress towards the targets.”
He commented that the challenge was to tackle poor insulation, so that houses had adequate energy conservation but highlighted the issue of rented accommodation where there is often a significant turnover of tenants, some of whom are fuel poor, some not.
He argued that there was a clear link between the energy companies and energy efficiency.
He commented that the Conservative proposals offered every household, whether in fuel poverty or not, an entitlement of up to £6,500-worth of approved energy efficiency improvements.
Liberal Democrat shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change, Simon Hughes, said “We live in a country that provides us with huge amounts of our own fuel—gas, oil and coal—along with the potential for renewables.
We also face a huge challenge in dealing with carbon emissions, 27 per cent of which emanate from domestic households.”
He argued that the Bill sought to pick up where the law appeared to have left off after last year’s High Court judgment.
He said “The Bill is central to what we should be doing.”
The parliamentary under-secretary of state for energy and climate change, Joan Ruddock, said “Unhappily, this Bill is designed in such a way as to cut across everything that the Government have been doing on fuel poverty.”
Ruddock said “Fuel poverty and energy efficiency are huge and complex subjects of which we now have considerable experience.”
The government’s fuel poverty strategy sets out that being fuel poor means spending more than 10 per cent of income on fuel to maintain a satisfactory heating regime, generally defined as 21° C in the living room and 18° C in the bedroom, Ruddock commented.
She argued “Fuel poverty is not just about income, however; it is a complex interaction between fuel costs, household income and household energy efficiency.”
Ruddock argued that the current strategy remained in place, as do the policies that go with it as well as our commitment to meeting the 2016 target of ending fuel poverty as far as is reasonably practicable.
She added “the number of households in fuel poverty and the identity of the householder do not remain static. Around two thirds of fuel-poor households are found in the lowest income decile.”
Commenting on the Bill Ruddock said it took “a radically different approach towards addressing fuel poverty from that of the existing strategy, despite the fact that that strategy was the subject of extensive consultation.”
She argued that government had little influence over global trends, but added that the government was tasking Ofgem with providing more advice and action on prices.”
She added “Ofgem has identified as a key problem the inadequate explanations from suppliers about their rationale for changing direct debits and the methodology for setting them.”
Ruddock concluded “Although the technology is improving all the time, we cannot be sure at this stage that the technology will exist to bring all existing homes up to the required standard, by the time proposed in the Bill.”
Continuation of the second reading of the Bill is scheduled to take palce on June 12.
Progress
House of Commons
First reading: January 21 2009 [HC Bill 11]
Second reading: March 20 2009
June 12 2009
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd