Press Release

Solving fuel poverty social emergency requires more than just tinkering

10 September 2008

Ahead of the Government announcing a package of measures to help tackle fuel poverty, Mervyn Kohler, Special Adviser for Help the Aged, says: “Government measures for dealing with fuel poverty have to be practical and deliver help quickly to those most in need.  Big problems call for urgent and comprehensive measures – anything less will fail to tackle the catastrophic problem of fuel poverty in the UK.   Around 25, 000 older people died of cold related illnesses last winter.  Older people struggling with soaring fuel bills cannot sit and wait for Ministers to pontificate any longer - action is what's required.

“A credible and robust fuel poverty strategy is needed that combines both short term and long term solutions.  In the short term, the Winter Fuel Payment must be increased significantly – it now barely meets the cost of one-sixth of the average fuel bill, compared with one-third of average bills when it was first introduced.   Energy providers must also ensure that vulnerable older people are on the right tariffs.
 
"In the long term, the previously ill-advised cuts to Warm Front must be reversed to allow all homes to be more energy efficient – at the moment money effectively pours out of cracks in the ceiling and the walls in many homes across the country because of poor design or maintenance.  

“The Government is under a legal obligation to eradicate fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 2010 and in all households by 2016.  The package of measures announced tomorrow must ensure this finally happens.  The days of tinkering and making speeches have got to end - fuel poverty is nothing short of a social emergency.  That's why Help the Aged has joined forces with Friends of the Earth to seek a judicial review to ensure the Government is held to its legal obligation to eradicate fuel poverty."