Fuel poverty: Will the Government finally get a grip?

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee Announcement today acknowledges the imminent failure of the Government to end fuel poverty in this country and urges it to take decisive action now. uSwitch.com comments on the announcement and the proposals being put forward to help the 5.2 million households now estimated to be living in fuel poverty.

Facts:

Energy prices rocketed by £381 or 42% last year, but price cuts this year average out at £50 or 3.9%

In January 2008 the average household energy bill was £912. Today it is £1,243 - £331 or 36% higher

Last year's energy price increases saw fuel poverty rocket from 4 million to 5.4 million households - this year's cuts should pull 155,000 households back out of the trap

uSwitch.com research shows that fuel poverty can no longer be seen as a ‘pensioner issue' as its net is spreading wider. While 30% of pensioner households are in fuel poverty, so are 20% of families with one income and 17% of single person working households.

Tom Lyon, energy expert at uSwitch.com, says: "The Select Committee has identified the need for joined-up thinking from the Government, the energy industry and all the different agencies involved in helping to tackle fuel poverty in the UK. At the moment there are lots of groups working towards this aim, but unfortunately no signs of a cohesive or well thought through plan to make sure that they meet the goal.

"If this Government is to stand any chance of tackling fuel poverty it has got to get a grip on the issue and it has got to do it now before further energy price rises push yet more households over the top. As the number of households involved mounts, so the Government's statutory obligation moves further out of reach and the fuel poverty problem begins to look more and more insurmountable.

"As well as bringing all fuel poverty and energy efficiency programmes under one roof, we would like to see the Winter Fuel Payment targeted from this winter onwards, so that this money only goes to those who need it. We would also like to see far more emphasis being placed on the availability and communication of social tariffs to those who need them. We believe that the Government should now prioritise work with the energy industry on data sharing so that recipients of certain benefits can be easily identified and automatically placed on social tariffs.

"Finally, far more work needs to be done around communicating to consumers about energy efficiency and the financial help that is available to them. At the moment, this seems very patchy and, as a result, take up is very low. Energy suppliers send regular bills to households and have well-designed websites - much more could be made of these and I'm pleased to see that the Select Committee has indeed highlighted the need for consumers to be told more clearly on their bills about the costs being passed on to them to pay for energy efficiency schemes being implemented under CERT.

"Tackling fuel poverty is a mammoth task, but getting the right building blocks in place to begin with is a good way to start. The Select Committee has set out to do this with its recommendations today. We just hope that the Government does not let this last-chance opportunity slip by."

For more information visit uSwitch.com