DECC: 'Fuel poverty on the increase'

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Fuel poverty is on the increase, according to the latest government figures.

The annual report on fuel poverty statistics from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) revealed there were around 4m fuel poor households in the UK in 2007, up from 3.5m in 2006, while in England there were around 2.8m fuel poor households, up from 2.4m in 2006. Projections for England suggest substantial increases are on the way, with around 3.6m fuel poor households in 2008 and 4.6m in 2009.

Fuel poverty in vulnerable households has also gone up – in 2007 there were 3.25m households in the UK, up 0.5m from 2006, and 2.3m households in England, up by 0.4m. DECC put the increases down to rising fuel prices, with domestic energy prices going up by 80 per cent between 2004 and 2008.

However, the Local Government Association has condemned the figures and said the problem could be eased if all councils insulated every house in their area for free – which is what has happened at Kirklees Council.

Gary Porter, chairman of the LGA Environment Board, said: "Millions of homes across Britain are still draughty, cold and energy inefficient. Councils want to make homes that are fit for the 21st century. Home insulation saves the average family around £220 a year. Insulating lofts is a fast, effective way of helping people cut their fuel bills but at the moment, many homes are missing out."

He went on: "Too much money is being wasted on a raft of green schemes and people who need help insulating their homes are not getting it. A locally led home insulation programme would dramatically reduce carbon emissions and harness the desire of householders to make their homes more energy efficient. It's time the government cut the red tape around its green schemes and created a single pot of money so councils can get on with the job in hand."