28.07.10 Fuel poor hit hard by the cost of climate change policies

The Government's Fuel Poverty Advisory Group has suggested that people living in fuel poverty (a situation where to achieve an adequate standard of warmth, a household needs to spend more than 10% of its income on total fuel use), are among the hardest hit by the government's climate change policies. This accusation comes after the group discovered that energy bills have increased by 125% over the past six years, passing on costs accrued from government policies directly onto consumers.

Some 4.6 million households in the UK are now classified as being in fuel poverty. This is likely to increase since household bills are projected to rise by up to 50% by 2020, due to customers bearing the cost of government policies to invest in energy infrastructure and measures to reduce greenhouse gases.

The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group agrees that investment in energy infrastructure and measures to reduce greenhouse gases is essential. However, worries over the future of grants to reduce the number in fuel poverty, such as the Warm Front scheme which may be under threat, have led to increased worry for those in fuel poverty. In order to reduce these fears, the group has asked government ministers to set an immediate and unequivocal goal to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016.

This plea comes as an alternative to the government’s current proposal for a “green deal” to help boost the energy efficiency of homes by focusing on installation measures. The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group argues that schemes such as these do not work for those in fuel poverty as they currently under-heat their homes to keep their costs down.

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