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Radical action is needed to prevent more households being pushed into fuel poverty due to rising unemployment and higher energy prices, a government advisory body has warned.
The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG) said fuel poverty rates have tripled in five years, with existing measures now inadequate to tackle the scale of the problem.
Ministers were urged to introduce a detailed plan to help meet their own target of eradicating fuel poverty by 2016 as a matter of urgency.
The FPAG estimated that over four million UK households are in fuel poverty, whereby more than 10 per cent on household income is spent on energy.
It outlined recommendations to improve home insulation and to bring an end to higher prices for pre-payment meter customers, currently paying up to £225 more a year than direct debit customers.
Compulsory social tariffs were recommended for the least well-off, in a bid to prevent the increasing rise in fuel poverty.
David Lickorish, chairman of the FPAG, said: "The measures in place to deal with fuel poverty now are simply inadequate to tackle the rise in fuel poverty that this cocktail of issues could create.
"Unless fuel poverty is tackled head on, many hundreds of thousands more vulnerable pensioners, families and disabled people will struggle to afford their energy bills."
Despite the recent dip in gas prices, the FPAG says prices are likely to remain volatile due to increasing imports, potentially causing a sudden jump in household bills.
Responding, energy and climate change minister David Kidney said: "The government has spent more than £20bn since 2000 on policies and programmes which can help tackle fuel poverty.
"But we know the challenge needs further action, and recognise that rising energy costs have reversed the downward trend on the number of households in fuel poverty."
Article Comments
Fuel poverty?
Unemployed persons spending more time at home need to leave the heating on all day. If you are depressed because of your situation then the warmth helps you cope and so on, and on go the costs and the depression gets deeper and deeper. Lets also look at disabled persons who because of the inability of movement feel the cold more. The government hands out 200 or 100 pounds at Christmas for the elderly but not the most vulnerable persons confined to a wheelchair 24 hours a day. Unable to move unaided and so no chance of keeping warm. Lets stop these grants to help with heating and instead give vouchers that are redeemable via heating companies. We could include the disabled that are confined to a wheelchair and have the payment increased to 250 pounds. The Cold Fuel Payment is paid to persons that have no need for it in many cases and two persons in the same home would not need twice as much heating.
The Cold Fuel Payment Voucher redeemable against the fuel bill.
The disabled person confined to a wheelchair unable to move unaided and so unable to stay warm also on the voucher system.
The voucher should only be redeemed against the fuel bill for that named person and not passed onto a third party.
This would help the more vulnerable and save the government millions.
Robin Driscoll
14th Jul 2009 at 7:55 am
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