Policy poverty over fuel
By 2010 the Government has to end fuel poverty among pensioners, people who are disabled or ill, and households with children. This isn’t a political aim. A manifesto pledge. Or a pious hope. It’s the law. And the law doesn’t say the Government has to make its best efforts to tackle fuel poverty. Or reduce fuel poverty from its current level. Nor even try as hard as it can to make sure everyone can enjoy a warm well lit home. No. The law says it has to end fuel poverty among those vulnerable groups. And then it has to move on and end it for every household – every one – by 2016. Full stop.
A household is in fuel poverty if it spends more than 10% of its available income on keeping the home warm and well lit. Some people in energy efficient homes may be poor but they are not in fuel poverty. And others who have a reasonable income but live in a draughty old pile are. Hence the need for the term ‘fuel poverty’.
And it’s not just an theoretical idea. Every winter more people die than in the summer – 23,000 more last winter. This annual cull of the old and sick doesn’t happen in colder countries in Scandanavia. They know fuel poverty is not a matter of comfort. It’s life or death.
And with two years to go the number of people in fuel poverty in the UK is rising not falling. It’s around 2.5 million and even the Government admits there will be more than a million vulnerable households in fuel poverty in 2010. So why – asks the Government’s own Fuel Poverty Advisory Group – has the Government cut the spending on Warm Front grants for insulation and energy efficiency by a quarter? And why it has allowed the energy companies to charge to customers on prepayment meters £140 a year more than better off customers who pay by direct debit?
The Government responds with all it has done, spending nearly £2 billion a year on the Winter Fuel Payment and another £2 billion on schemes to reduce fuel poverty. As a result the numbers were cut from four million in 1996 to one million in 2004. But since then rising fuel prices have made those numbers grow and pushed the goal of eradicating fuel poverty further out of reach.
But the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group says it could be eradicated – it just needs the Government to spend £1 billion a year more. So far there is no sign the Government will do that. But if it misses its legally binding targets it could be taken to court. And if that happens a judge could order it to fulfil its promise. Or else.
Go back to Paul Lewis front page