Fight must continue on fuel poverty say Ministers

Ministers today said that they will continue with their fight against fuel poverty, as Environment Secretary Hilary Benn holds meetings with energy suppliers and the home insulation industry to discuss how to speed up work on increasing energy efficiency in the UK's homes.

The pledge comes as Defra and BERR jointly published the Sixth Annual Progress Report for the UK Fuel Poverty Strategy, and follows the recent announcement of a £1 billion Home Energy Saving Programme to increase fuel efficiency and help for vulnerable households.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said: "Since that announcement the Government has launched a major advertising campaign to encourage energy efficiency and advise people of the assistance available. This has resulted in almost 57,000 calls to our Act on CO2 helpline in the fortnight since the announcement.

This is triple the number of calls normally received, so clearly people are responding to rising fuel bills.

"Today I met with energy suppliers and the home insulation industry to stress the need for all of us to work together as fast as possible to make more homes energy efficient, and to discuss with them the opportunities for bringing forward insulation activity so the maximum number of people are able to benefit this winter."

The report includes details of the progress of the Fuel Poverty Strategy, presents the statistics on fuel poverty in the UK for 2006, and provides an update on government policies and programmes to tackle the issue.

Key findings of the report include:

The rise in the number of households in fuel poverty during 2006 was due to increases in consumer energy prices. The overall cost of energy to domestic consumers rose by 22 per cent in real terms between 2005 and 2006, with gas prices rising by 29 per cent and electricity prices rising by 19 per cent.

In 2006 there were approximately 3.5 million households in fuel poverty across the UK, an increase of one million households since 2005. Of these, around 2.75 million households were classified as vulnerable. A vulnerable household is one that contains an elderly person, a child or someone who is disabled or suffering from a long term illness.

In England, for 2006, there were estimated to be around 2.4 million fuel poor households, of which 1.9 million were vulnerable. This represents an increase of 900,000 households, including an additional 700,000 vulnerable households since 2005.

Hilary Benn said: "This Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty but - as this report shows - sharply rising energy price rises have made this goal increasingly difficult. However, we should remember that much has already been achieved. Since 2000, the Government has spent £20 billion on fuel poverty benefits and programmes. For example, the Warm Front scheme has provided cavity wall insulation to over 400,000 properties; loft insulation to 600,000 properties; new gas central heating to around 150,000 properties; replaced gas boilers in over 220,000 properties; and repaired over 70,000 central heating systems.

"Under the new programme funding to Warm Front is up by £74 million, cold weather payments are up from £8.50 to £25 a week this winter, and we are proposing that energy companies increase their spending on their energy efficiency obligations by 20 per cent. Programmes are in place, funding is available and we will continue to do everything we can to help people save money and save energy, both this winter and for the years ahead."

Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said: "It is the global demand for energy that is pushing up prices, but that is no comfort to the fuel poor who need support. That is why the Prime Minister launched the substantial energy efficiency package last month; it is why we have required supply companies to improve social tariffs and it is why winter fuel payments for elderly people will increase substantially later this year. It is intolerable that the vulnerable could suffer this winter. The Government is not complacent. We need to take action on many fronts."