Press Release

Latest Fuel Poverty Plan "Welcome, But Not Enough", Says Help The Aged

30 May 2008

Reacting to the news that OFGEM and the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) have announced new policy measures to combat fuel poverty, Kate Jopling, Head of Public Affairs at Help the Aged comments:
 
"While it's welcome news that the Government is moving in the right direction on fuel poverty, this initiative does not go nearly far enough to deal with the looming fuel poverty crisis. 
 
"Help the Aged is encouraged to see that Ministers will consider legislation to enable the sharing of customer data between energy providers and the Government.  It is absolutely vital that help reaches every vulnerable person that is eligible.  Older people cannot wait for the help they so desperately need.
 
"As the cost of energy continues to spiral, more and more older people are facing difficult choices about whether to pay fuel bills or cut back on basics such as food and clothing.  In a rich country such as ours, this is simply unacceptable.  This latest plan merely scratches the surface and is not the policy change that will deliver a turnaround in the growing levels of fuel poverty. 
 
"The Government’s Fuel Poverty Strategy requires Ministers to end the blight of fuel poverty for vulnerable people, including older people by 2010, and to end fuel poverty for everyone by 2016.  However, the Government’s own figures and a report from its official advisory group on fuel poverty predict that the 2010 target will be missed by a large margin and that the 2016 target is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve. 

"Help the Aged has teamed up with Friends of the Earth to pursue a judicial review of the Government's current fuel poverty policies.  This new initiative will not result in our withdrawing our court action.  Without a dynamic and sustainable strategy from Government which connects affordable energy with a network of energy efficiency measures and income maximisation initiatives, fuel poverty levels will continue to rise."
 
Help the Aged has set out a series of policy demands on fuel poverty.  These are:-
 
·        set up a mechanism for accurately identifying all those households suffering from fuel poverty, making use of data held by different government departments such as the pension service;

·        recognise the limited impact that market strategies around switching and social tariffs will have in effectively tackling fuel poverty amongst older people;

·        employ energy efficiency strategies and expand home insulation to effectively tackle fuel poverty amongst older people;[1][1]

·        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.