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energywatch laments lack of immediacy in fuel poverty plan

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  • energywatch laments lack of immediacy in fuel poverty plan

    energywatch laments lack of immediacy in fuel poverty plan (11 September 2008)

    energywatch today described the Government’s long-awaited response to the growing fuel poverty crisis as too little too late.
    Allan Asher, energywatch Chief Executive, said: “The lack of political will to tackle fuel poverty is not just disappointing, it approaches negligence.
    “While Government has now woken up to the scale of the challenge and is becoming alert to the need for some action; the sense of urgency is lacking. The elements that are sensible and welcome are sadly overshadowed by what is lacking.”
    On the energy efficiency measures Allan Asher said: “Improved energy efficiency is the long term solution to fuel poverty, but any new Government measures to increase the amount of funding for efficiency programmes must come with the cast iron assurance that it will not be added to consumers’ bills.
    “Currently, the CERT scheme is entirely funded by consumers, not Government nor industry. Every penny raised through CERT is a penny on consumers’ bills. As it stands the scheme has inequality hard-wired into it. A single pensioner on pension credit receiving £124.05 per week will contribute the same amount as an energy company Chief Executive on a £1,000,000 salary.
    “On the plus side, the restoration and increase to the Warm Front budget is welcome, and reverses an inexplicable decision to cut the government’s own flagship fuel poverty scheme.”
    Allan Asher continued: “The Government has done little to bring immediate and much needed relief to consumers who will not afford the cost of keeping warm this winter.
    “Frankly, to talk of action to help consumers keep warm this winter as a ‘one-off gesture’ or a ‘token’ reveals the paucity of thinking that has been applied to the problem.”
    Allan Asher concluded by calling for more action from Government: “It could deal with the obscenity of some prepayment meter charges being 60% higher than the same company’s online tariffs.
    “It could mandate social tariffs especially as there’s growing speculation that some suppliers may be about to ditch them.
    “It could extend the principle of winter fuel payments to the most vulnerable non-elderly fuel poor. Instead it has increased the value of a Cold Weather Payment that is hardly ever issued.
    “Government has travelled some way to develop a decent fuel poverty strategy. But there’s an awful long way to go, and it needs to get there quickly.”
    ends
    Notes to Editors
    • CERT is the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target that will see consumers make an annual contribution (rising to approximately £80 per household and collected as part of the energy bill) towards a fund that is used to provide energy efficiency measures. More information.
    • ‘Cold Comfort’ - a review of the ways that fuel poor consumers cope with rocketing energy bills - confirms what those with an interest in fuel poverty have suspected for some time; that some groups of consumers are employing dangerous strategies to cope with higher bills:

    · Pensioner households and those with prepayment meters tend to ration their use of fuel, sometimes to the extent of self-disconnecting;
    · Lone parents often go without food in order to keep their children warm and fed; and
    · Younger consumers or those with children are more likely to go into debt.
    · The report.
    • Official figures and research show that PPM usage is:

    · high among low income/social group E households,
    · high among single parent households and those claiming unemployment benefit, where for gas, it is the leading payment method,
    · perhaps surprisingly common among the long term sick or disabled, and
    · that 43% of housing association households have an electricity PPM and of those tenants with a gas supply, 41% have a PPM.
    #staysafestayhome

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