Archived press release

Experts slam Government record on fuel poverty

27 March 2008

The Government has been heavily criticised today by its own independent expert group for not doing enough to end fuel poverty. Friends of the Earth has welcomed today's report by the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, and is urging the Government to comprehensively increase levels of energy efficiency in the homes of the fuel poor.

The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group's 6^th Annual Report estimates that there are now almost three million households in England - one in eight - that can't afford to heat their homes, the highest level for nearly a decade. [1] The expert group concludes that the Government appears to have given up on its legally binding target to eliminate fuel poverty in vulnerable households in England by 2010.

The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group has specifically criticised the Government for:

• Failing to fully recognise the importance of securing the highest possible energy efficiency in the homes of low income and vulnerable households.

• Reducing spending on its main fuel poverty programme, Warm Front, despite the fact that energy prices have risen 50 per cent since 2003

The expert group concluded that "the only sustainable way to end fuel poverty is through energy efficiency (and now also micro generation)."

Friends of the Earth's Low Carbon Homes Campaigner Ed Matthew, said:

"This expert report is further evidence that the Government's attempt to tackle fuel poverty has failed. Ministers must ensure that the homes of the fuel poor are super-energy efficient. This is the only way that these households can be properly protected from high energy prices in the long term."

Friends of the Earth agrees with the expert group that a key failing is that the Government has not produced a fully-costed strategy to eliminate fuel poverty, despite its legal obligations. Also, the Government has not set an energy efficiency standard for the homes being treated under its fuel poverty programme. As a result most households in the programme have only been given basic insulation which has been inadequate to keep them out of fuel poverty.

Two weeks ago in the Budget, the Government announced its decision to increase Winter Fuel Payments for pensioners for one year. Friends of the Earth has warned that although this measure is a welcome boost to pensioners, it is a very poor tool for combating fuel poverty as it fails to tackle the root cause of the problem. The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group also acknowledges in its report that `there would be better ways of spending the money in order to make progress towards the fuel poverty targets.'

Friends of the Earth sent a legal letter to the Government in February 2008, stating that it believes the Government has unlawfully failed to meet its duties under the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000. Following a lengthy delay, Friends of the Earth has now received the Government's formal response which it is considering with its lawyers.

Note

[1] FPAG's 6th Annual Report estimates that the numbers of households in England in fuel poverty are rising - possibly to 2.9 million (including 2.3 million 'vulnerable households') in 2007.

Looking at the whole of the UK, Dr Brenda Boardman (of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University) estimates in her report Home Truths that there were 4 million households in fuel poverty in the UK in 2007.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust