Mar 20 2007
Over 1.7M new households have been plunged into fuel poverty in the last two years and are struggling to cope with escalating electricity and gas bills, a major new report has revealed.
The report was commissioned by the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes (EEPH) - a group of 700 industry bodies concerned with domestic energy efficiency - and shows that the Government and utility companies have failed to tackle the growing number of people experiencing fuel poverty , with nearly three million households currently spending more than 10 per cent of their annual income on electricity and gas and therefore classed as fuel poor.
In 2001 the government publicly stated that it would eradicate fuel poverty for all vulnerable and low-income households by 2010 and all other households by 2016. Government figures estimate that there are currently 1.2 million households in England experiencing fuel poverty.
Key findings from the report reveal that:
- £14bn needs to be urgently invested across all housing tenures in order to tackle fuel poverty in the next ten years. Even then fuel poverty will not be eliminated with one million households still struggling in 2016 to pay electricity and gas bills.
- Between 2003 and 2006 electricity prices surged by 39 per cent and gas prices by 61 per cent, plunging an extra 1.73 million households across all tenures into fuel poverty.
- 1 in 3 people (or 650,000 households) renting from a local authority or registered social landlord struggled to meet rising energy bills in 2006, paying an average £814 a year. These households are now three times more likely to be fuel poor than tenants in 2004, who paid £590 per year on bills.
The report was commissioned by the Managed Homes subgroup of the EEPH and is chaired by Places for People – the UK’s largest housing and regeneration group which is responsible for 60,000 homes across the country
Nicholas Doyle, project director for the environment at Places for People warned:
“For thousands of people, the prospect of a warm and comfortable home is now a luxury that they cannot afford. The stark reality is that many people from low-income backgrounds are now faced with the unenvious choice of deciding whether to heat their home or provide for their family.
“Urgent action and support from energy suppliers and the government is needed to increase peoples understanding of how to save energy, improve the energy efficiency and to increase incomes for the thousands of customers who are struggling to pay soaring gas and electricity bills. With rising prices and concerns over the environment, it is imperative that people understand more about how they consume energy and how much it is costing them.”
In the past year Places for People has designed and constructed hundreds of homes that are energy efficient and feature a range of renewable technologies, so helping to reduce fuel costs for thousands of customers and minimise the looming threat of climate change.
It recently launched a range of pilot projects testing renewable technologies in affordable new build and existing developments including a unique link up with leading solar panel manufacturer Viridian Solar, placing an order for up to 250 low-cost solar panels to be installed in affordable homes across the UK next year. It is thought to be the single biggest commitment to installing solar panels by a UK housing group. The installation of the first 50 solar panels will take place in summer 2007 at McCutcheon Court – a flagship regeneration scheme in Walker Riverside, Newcastle.
It is also working with residents at Broughton Atterbury, one of the UK’s largest ecohome sites in Milton Keynes, to encourage them to think about the amount of energy they may be wasting. In a pilot project it has installed Electrisave meters in people’s homes on the 229 home development – something the Government wants to see in every person’s home in the future. Electrisaves are a simple device which tells you how much electricity you are using and how much it is costs in pence per hour. It also shows how much carbon your home is emitting. The project has helped reduce customers’ fuel bills by 15 per cent and has changed the way people think about, and use their electricity.
The Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes is an independent UK-wide network of some 700 organisations and individuals. The Partnership’s membership comprises the leading companies, trade associations and other bodies (including government) that provide energy efficiency products and services to the household sector. It is funded by government. Partnership working groups – of which the Managed Housing Strategy Group is one – frequently carry out research and projects looking at how our homes can be made more energy efficient.