Tag: Fuel Poverty

Energy bills crisis to hit households with young children hard

New figures from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition have highlighted the challenge facing young families this winter.

Across England, 22% of households will face fuel poverty this winter, but for those households with young children (0-4 years old), the figure rises to 35%.

More than one million households with babies and infants (42%) will be in fuel poverty from 1 April 2023.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

People are already seeing for themselves the suffering caused by living in fuel poverty and it will just get worse as we get deeper into winter and when the Energy Price Guarantee raises prices again in April 2023.

The figures show that University College London’s Institute of Health Equity predictions of ‘a humanitarian crisis’ for children stuck in cold homes are now a very real possibility with fuel poverty causing a public health crisis.”

A Public Health England report found that cold homes and poor housing conditions have been linked with a range of health problems in children. The British Medical Journal previously warned:

Children growing up in cold, damp, and mouldy homes with inadequate ventilation have higher than average rates of respiratory infections and asthma, chronic ill health, and disability. They are also more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and slower physical growth and cognitive development.

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of the Asthma and Lung UK charity, told the Independent that respiratory infections could “thrive” in colder temperatures if a growing number of vulnerable people cannot afford enough heating next year:

Children can be particularly at risk because their lungs are less well developed, so if they do pick up an infection then they’re more likely to get seriously ill.

Following the Government’s disappointing response to the energy bills crisis leaving so many households in fuel poverty, the Warm This Winter campaign has called for a national Day of Action on fuel poverty on Saturday 3 December 2022.

Groups and communities will come together and stage Warm This Winter events and actions in villages, towns and cities up and down the country in a display of people power showing support for the solutions to the energy crisis that need to be implemented now.

The Day of Action will bring together people from across the poverty movement, health and disability campaigners, housing activists, environmental campaigners as well as those struggling to pay their energy bills.

In London and Stoke-on-Trent, larger scale events will mark the day focussing on telling the real-life stories of people who are facing fuel poverty this winter.

People can register their event or find an event near them online at https://www.warmthiswinter.org.uk/day-of-action

ENDS

Methodology and assumptions available online.

Coalition responds to Chancellor’s autumn statement

End Fuel Poverty Coalition members have reacted to the Chancellor’s autumn statement as it has been confirmed that Coalition members will be joining forces with others in the Warm This Winter campaign to call for a day of action on 3 December to protest at the lack of UK Government support for those in fuel poverty.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

The Chancellor has now condemned 7 million households to suffer in fuel poverty this winter. The rise in the energy price cap from April next year could see this figure increase to 8.6 million households.

We are already seeing the horrific impact of living in cold damp homes on children, the elderly, disabled and those with illnesses ranging from cancer to asthma. Even with the additional funding pledged to the NHS and social care system today, we are deeply concerned that it will be overwhelmed by the energy bills crisis and millions will suffer.

The Chancellor could have raised all the money required to save the public from fuel poverty this winter through a more comprehensive Windfall Tax. Instead, he has chosen to protect the profits of oil and gas firms over protecting people’s lives.

A film by the Warm This Winter campaign summarised the criticisms of the Budget.

Tessa Khan from Uplift commented:

The chancellor rightly diagnosed climate breakdown and energy affordability as two of the biggest challenges we face, but has sided today with the industry driving both: oil and gas.

Until this year, the UK offered among the most lucrative tax conditions for oil and gas producers in the world. The rise in the rate of the windfall tax to 35% is therefore welcome, but it is a temporary fix when what is needed is permanent reform.

More alarmingly, Hunt has failed to close the gaping tax loophole that allows companies such as Shell to avoid tax if they invest in new oil and gas fields. It also gives them an even bigger handout if they choose to power their oil and gas rigs using wind – despite the fact that the vast majority of emissions come from burning, not extracting, oil.

Not only will this see billions in lost tax, it sends us in precisely the opposite direction to the one that will get us out of this hole for good.

This is the “highway to climate hell”, that the UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned world leaders about at Cop27.

It is also the route to permanently high energy bills.

Electricity generators have also been hit with a 45% windfall tax but without the generous allowance for new investment that oil and gas companies benefit from.

This is an absurd outcome given the dual crises we face of climate breakdown and energy affordability.

Alethea Warrington, from climate charity Possible, which is part of the Warm This Winter campaign, said:

The Chancellor’s windfall tax doesn’t go far enough on dirty fossil fuels, while clean energy generators got slapped with the biggest single levy increase in the budget.

This is completely backwards.

Oil and gas companies continue to reap eye-watering profits while the climate and people across the UK feel the burn.

The government should act to increase clean, cheap energy by unblocking onshore wind and implement a bigger windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

This would provide the funds we need to keep everyone warmer this winter by insulating our homes and cutting bills for those who need it most.

While the Government did announce funding for energy efficiency measures and a new task force to make it the nation’s mission to improve buildings, Sam Alvis, head of economy at Green Alliance, said:

The chancellor is asking people to wait another three years to get their home insulated when they urgently need help now. Promises for after the next election isn’t good enough.

Today was more about raising money than spending it. It’s right that oil and gas companies are being asked to pay more, but it’s still unclear why the UK isn’t levying the same tax rate as Norway.

While the investment allowance has shrunk for oil and gas, electricity generators aren’t getting the same incentives.

 

National day of action on fuel poverty called for 3 December

Following the Government’s disappointing response to the energy bills crisis gripping the country, the Warm This Winter campaign has called for a national Day of Action on fuel poverty on Saturday 3 December 2022.

Groups and communities will come together and stage Warm This Winter events and actions in villages, towns and cities up and down the country in a display of people power showing support for the solutions to the energy crisis that need to be implemented now.

The Day of Action will bring together people from across the poverty movement, health and disability campaigners, housing activists, environmental campaigners as well as those struggling to pay their energy bills.

In London and Stoke-on-Trent, larger scale events will mark the day focussing on telling the real-life stories of people who are facing fuel poverty this winter. These will include a rally in London’s Parliament Square and a public meeting at Stoke’s historic Fenton Town Hall; a venue close to streets with some of the highest levels of fuel poverty in the country.

On the day, leading campaign group Fuel Poverty Action will be sparking a series of “Warm Ups” across the country where people who can’t afford to heat their own homes will go into public buildings and keep warm collectively there.

In Cardiff, Climate Cymru will bring people together in solidarity with those in fuel poverty outside the Senedd all wearing yellow for warmth.

Parents for Future UK local groups will be taking the Warm this Winter campaign to events in their area on the day. Actions will include writing “keep us warm this winter” Christmas cards to the Prime Minister and local elected representatives as well as showing support for wind energy by creating pop-up wind farms.

People can register their event or find an event near them online at https://www.warmthiswinter.org.uk/day-of-action

Tessa Khan from Uplift and one of the organisers of the Warm This Winter Day of Action, commented:

People only need to look at their bills to know that the UK’s energy system is broken. This Day of Action is to give a voice to those who want change from this government. Instead of spending billions of our money subsidising gas fields and expensive gas imports, which will guarantee bills stay high for years, people want sensible, practical solutions to permanently lower our energy costs.

People want those in fuel poverty given the support they need to stay warm this winter; they want help to insulate their homes; and they want this government to unblock onshore renewable energy, which will provide our homes with cheaper energy for years to come. This is about coming together to tell the government to look after the needs of British people, and not the needs of wealthy oil and gas companies.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition is supporting the Day of Action and a spokesperson commented:

People are already seeing for themselves the suffering caused by living in fuel poverty and it will just get worse as we get deeper into winter.

The Day of Action is a final chance for the UK Government to take notice of the problems caused by living in cold damp homes and pledge to do all it can to end fuel poverty once and for all.

Sana Yusuf, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:

The last few years have been hard enough without throwing volatile energy prices and a recession into the mix.

The UK Government has had all year to come up with solutions to help people facing extortionate living costs, yet its financial support scheme is not nearly enough to stop millions going cold this winter.

Why there isn’t a plan to insulate UK homes and boost the production of renewable energy beggars belief. Both are popular with the public and can help to lower energy bills permanently.

If government inaction has done anything, it has galvanised local communities who are turning out today because they know a better way forward exists.

Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action commented:

There is plenty of money to ensure that everyone can keep warm this winter. It just needs to be taken from the oil and gas giants that are taking it from us.

The Warm Ups will enable people to demand Energy For All, an end to the imposition of prepayment meters when people get behind on their bills, or whatever other demands local organisers choose to highlight. The tactic has been used many times by pensioners and others to speak out about the cold, damp conditions that threaten health and lives.

Bethan Sayed from Climate Cymru said:

We are experiencing a cost of living crisis, a climate emergency and an energy crisis and these crises are connected. As fuel and household bills continue to rise, many people are already facing tough choices.

In addition to supporting the UK wide movement, the Warm This Winter Wales campaign is also calling on the Welsh Government to help address these combined crises. On the day of action there will be different ways people can show their support, this includes wearing something yellow to symbolise warmth. Whether it’s a yellow hat or yellow jumper, or even bringing a yellow blanket or hot water bottle out with you!

Warm This Winter Wales will also be launching a petition on the day of action to ask the Welsh Government to act now and keep people Warm This Winter.

Fuel poverty risk index reveals areas under greatest energy bills threat

The Open Data Institute (ODI) has published a new report revealing the sections of society that are most affected by fuel poverty, the failings in fuel poverty data collection, as well as looking at the areas of the country where the problem hits the hardest.

It has also published a new annual fuel poverty risk index, which calculates a score that estimates the risk of someone being in fuel poverty for each local authority in England.

The fuel poverty risk index contains a graphic tool that can be used to highlight the impact of fuel poverty across England.

The index will be updated annually and calculates the level of risk based on the demand for energy, the levels of poverty and the support that’s available to households in any given local authority area.

The index reveals that Blackpool, Knowsley, Middlesborough, Hartlepool and Birmingham are at greatest risk of fuel poverty. This paints a different picture to current fuel poverty statistics which are historic and produced by the Government.

Lisa Allen, Director of Data & Services at the Open Data Institute said:

Having an effective data infrastructure in place around fuel poverty would help to identify those who are in most need in a systematic way and could also highlight the longer term benefits associated with adequate investment in efforts to tackle fuel poverty.

In turn, this would assist government, charities, and those households in need of assistance with bills or energy efficiency.

It is important that this data is as up to date as is possible, so that decisions can be made in a timely manner and across factors.

This could help decide which groups to target when offering support and how much investment in fuel poverty support is optimal given short and long term impacts.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, which is also part of the Warm This Winter campaign, said:

Fuel poverty is a public health emergency this winter and this report shows the areas of the country that are suffering the most.

Those areas of the country where energy use is high, poverty and ill health commonplace, and where there is a lack of mitigating energy efficiency measures in place, are in the eye of the storm.

The better use of data could, for example, help planning for surges in demand on the NHS as people who are elderly, disabled or with pre-existing health conditions suffer from the complications of living in a cold damp home.

Public demand more government action on energy crisis

The overwhelming majority of the population believe the Government should do more to help people through the energy crisis, according to new polling by Omnisis on behalf of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.

Over 60 charities, co-ordinated by the Warm This Winter campaign, have joined forces to write to the new Prime Minister [pdf] demanding more financial and non-financial support for the 7m UK households currently in fuel poverty.

The letter goes on to call for the upweighting of benefits and urgent clarification of energy bills support available from April 2023, a massive programme of energy efficiency measures and the speeding up of moves to cheaper renewable energy.

The campaigners are supported by the new research which shows 76% of the population think the Government is not doing enough to support vulnerable households this winter.

Even taking into account the Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bills Support Scheme pledged by the Government, 58% of the population believe they will struggle to pay their bills this winter.

The research shows that people in the South West (68%), Wales (64%), the East Midlands and the North East (both 63%) are the areas where the most people are fighting to make ends meet.

And the situation will get worse. Over 8 in 10 (83%) are very or quite worried about the prospect of bills going up further in April 2023 when the current Government support programmes run out.

Joe Cole, Chief Executive of Advice for Renters, is one of the signatories of the letter and commented:

One of our clients who suffers from PTSD was pushed close to suicide when he couldn’t top up his pre-payment meter.

Thankfully, help was on hand and he has now been put back in credit, but he remains traumatised and his experience is proof of just how damaging life in fuel poverty can be on mental and physical health.

Tessa Khan, director of Uplift, said:

While our politicians have spent months fighting among themselves, the public has been watching this crisis bearing down on us.

It now demands urgent government action, which means more support for those who need it this winter, and the wholesale replacement of Truss’ implausible and wrong-headed plans for taxpayer-subsidised gas production with a government-backed programme to insulate homes and an acceleration of cheaper renewables.

Pragmatism not ideology must be what drives this government’s decisions.

Gavin Smart, CEO Chartered Institute of Housing, commented:

Renters are being hit particularly hard by the cost of living crisis. Social landlords are doing what they can to support residents, but too often they are still unable to afford to heat their homes. We urgently need the government to commit to uprating benefits with inflation and guaranteeing energy bills support beyond April, alongside a national insulation programme, to reduce unaffordable bills in both the short and long term.

Sarah Woolnough, CEO of Asthma + Lung UK, said:

Untenable cost of living hikes are forcing people with lung conditions to make impossible choices about their health, with people already reporting a sharp decline in their lung health.

Lives are at risk if the government doesn’t step in to help people with lung conditions, to provide more support for people on low incomes so they can afford to keep their homes warm this winter.

Richard Quallington, Executive Director of Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) said:

It’s not just deprived urban areas where people will be struggling to heat their homes this winter. Many rural parts of the country are also seeing large numbers of people running into difficulties, particularly those living in older homes that are not connected to mains gas.

Rachel Kirby-Rider, Chief Executive of Young Lives vs Cancer, said:

Young Lives vs Cancer have been calling on the government for years to tackle the huge costs experienced by children and young people with cancer and their families. They are disproportionately affected by the cost of living crisis, and were already experiencing unmanageable costs before bills started to rise.

When you care for a child or young person with cancer, you don’t have a choice whether to keep the heating on to keep them well. We urgently need an energy and cost of living plan that protects the poorest and most vulnerable – including children and young people with cancer.

ENDS

Omnisis surveyed 1,382 people on 21 October 2022. Results were weighted to be reflective of the GB population. Omnisis is a member of the British Polling Council. Full results can be downloaded from the following link: https://www.omnisis.co.uk/poll-results/VI-5-results-20-10-2022-energy

Protesters raise issue of fuel poverty in Westminster

A petition calling for an overhaul of our energy pricing structure has been delivered to Downing Street.

The ‘Energy For All’ petition, signed by over 650,000 people, calls for a universal, free amount of energy that would cover everyone’s basic necessities of heating, lighting and cooking.

This would be paid for by ending the millions of pounds spent daily on fossil fuel subsidies, windfall taxes on excess profits of energy companies and higher prices for profligate energy use.

The event, organised by Fuel Poverty Action included a rally and march attended by around 100 people and also backed members of the Warm This Winter campaign.

Stuart Bretherton, Energy For All Campaign Coordinator, said:

Millions of people will face fuel poverty this winter, with prices sitting at double what they were last year, and now renewed uncertainty over how high they will climb next year.

Energy For All would deliver justice and security to all consumers now and in the future, by ensuring everyone’s basic needs are met and that steps are taken to address the climate crisis. Ordinary people cannot keep footing the bill for crises created by the wealthy, it’s time for the big polluters and profiteers to pay their share.

Over 20 MPs from multiple parties also attended to show their support for the demand.

A day prior to the petition hand-in, Early Day Motion was launched in parliament to support some of the key components of the ‘Energy For All’ demand.

Constituents can write to their MP urging them to sign the EDM using an Action Network template:  https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ask-your-mp-to-support-a-universal-basic-energy-allowance

Protestors from Greenpeace and Fuel Poverty Action also took direct action in Parliament as the new Prime Minister was announced.

The activists, endorsed by Disabled People Against Cuts, are demanding that the next prime minister start putting the welfare of the British people before fossil fuel companies by properly taxing oil and gas profits and launching a nationwide home insulation programme to tackle fuel poverty.

As figures show that fuel poverty in Rishi Sunak’s constituency will hit 40% of households, protesters have also recently called for more action to help those in fuel poverty and the introduction of a real oil and gas windfall tax to help those most in need.

Image: Angela Christofilou

Fuel poverty levels in Sunak, Mordaunt, Johnson & Hunt seats revealed

New estimates by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition reveal that the axing of the Energy Price Guarantee could lead to almost 11m UK households in fuel poverty from April 2023.

And in the constituencies of the Tory leadership candidates, tens of thousands of homes will face fuel poverty.​​

The figures come as the Warm This Winter campaign has called for £14bn of additional financial support as well as non-financial help for households this winter.

Chief among the non-financial asks is an immediate suspension of all forced transfers of households onto more expensive pre-payment meters (PPMs), whether by court warrant or remotely via smart meters.

These demands come alongside calls for more investment in energy efficiency and a move towards a renewable energy future, and away from oil and gas.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

The constant u-turns and paralysis in government has millions of victims: the people condemned to fuel poverty.

Had we had a functioning government this year, the energy bills crisis would not have gotten out of hand and we wouldn’t be in a situation now where we have 7m homes in fuel poverty.

People are now dreading the dark nights and cold weather. The NHS is at crisis point and will be unable to cope with the health impacts of people living in cold damp homes.

We need to see an immediate £14bn package of support to help the most vulnerable stay warm this winter.

In addition, the Chancellor must urgently meet with charities and consumer groups to devise support plans for 2023 and beyond to stop even more households falling into fuel poverty.

Tessa Khan, director of Uplift, which is part of the Warm This Winter campaign, said:

Is anyone in Westminster paying attention to what’s happening in the rest of the country? We urgently need a plausible energy plan from the government to ensure people can stay warm this winter and next.

Truss’ ideas, which relied on fracking and new North Sea gas, were as misguided as her economic plan. Neither will make a material difference to people’s lives, they would just make oil and gas companies even richer.

The Chancellor needs to bin Truss’ energy plan, as he has the rest of her agenda, and replace it with measures that will genuinely make a difference to people’s lives, like a subsidised programme of home insulation and more affordable renewable energy.

Cara Jenkinson, Cities Manager at Ashden, which is part of the Warm This Winter campaign, added:

Poor quality homes that leak energy are currently causing the NHS £1.4bn a year as well as misery for people in damp, cold homes.

To solve fuel poverty for good, we need a rapid scale-up of home retrofit focused on the areas that need it most, with an investment in the construction skills needed so that work isn’t stalled by a lack of workers.

New chancellor set to axe Energy Price Guarantee from April

Fuel poverty campaigners have reacted with shock to news that the new Chancellor will end the Energy Price Guarantee in April 2023.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

The country was already facing a financial cliff edge in April due to plans to end other support packages, but this cliff edge has now become even steeper.
Without the Energy Price Guarantee, the Government will need to fundamentally reform the energy market alongside providing unprecedented levels of support for energy efficiency schemes and financial support for the most vulnerable.
But any threat to people’s energy security is a threat to their health and wellbeing. If people cannot trust the Government to deliver the support it has promised, what trust can anyone have that they will keep people warm this winter and beyond?
The need for the Government to provide additional support for the most vulnerable this winter has also not disappeared and we hope the Treasury quickly acts to reassure households.

Chaitanya Kumar, head of environment and the green transition at the New Economics Foundation, commented:

The biggest surprise in the chancellor’s statement is to scale back the energy price guarantee, the government’s flagship support programme. The unfrozen price cap is now expected to rise above £6,000 from April 2023, which creates a massive cliff edge for families.

The government should get support where it’s most needed and fix our broken energy market. One way of doing this is by entitling every family to a basic amount of universal energy at free or subsidised rates.

This can ensure that nobody is left to make choices between heating and eating while encouraging those who can afford it to reduce their energy use.

But the only long-term solution to real energy security is to help people cut their energy demand and the first step is to help insulate our homes.

There is still time to roll out an emergency insulation programme this winter that can save both families and the treasury billions.

Henry Gregg, Director of External Affairs at Asthma + Lung UK, said:

Removing the energy price guarantee will spark fear in people living with long-term lung conditions, such as asthma and COPD, who need to keep their homes warm to survive.

People who were already struggling with rising energy bills are now hanging on by a thread with no safety net in place beyond next spring. Millions of people in this country are already living in fuel poverty and an end to the bill freeze in April could negatively impact many, many more.

Lives are already being lost, the Government must act now to prevent further damage. It must commit to helping people with lung conditions, who need warm homes to survive, and provide financial support for people facing extra energy bills for life-saving medical equipment.

Juliet Philips from the E3G think tank tweeted:

▶️Essential gov gets ‘targeting’ right – huge risk that millions could fall through gap with simple metrics
▶️£2.5k is untenable for fuel poor – quantum must be increased for vulnerable
▶️Must boost investment in long-term solutions to lower bills; home retrofits & renewables https://t.co/8b19IDZghZ— Juliet Phillips (@_JulietPhillips) October 17, 2022

While National Energy Action called the plan, said the almighty trade-off “may provide confidence and certainty for markets, it could cause anxiety and doubt for households” leaving families “clinging on by their fingertips.”

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, said:

It’s been hard keeping up with all the fiscal policy changes the last few days, but they seem to leave us in a position now in which nothing is guaranteed and with the Government increasingly warning of ‘hard choices to come’. This chilling outlook will be a huge concern for our older population, with only the healthiest and wealthiest able to view the future with equanimity.

Pensioners on low and modest incomes, or with high costs, have the most to worry about and for their sake we urge the Government to raise benefits in line with prices, not wages, and to extend help far enough up the income range so that the group once referred to by their party as ‘just about managing’, (i.e. not just those living below the poverty line) also get some support. The truth is that all these groups of older people, numbering several million, need an injection of additional cash to see them through the winter, not only from April 2023 onwards, when we trust that Ministers will keep their promise to reinstate the triple lock. Without more support between now and the spring though, the prospects for pensioners on low and modest incomes and with no savings are bleak, and we cannot see how they will be able to afford to buy even the basics. Without more help it seems certain that some will sink into deep hardship this winter unlike anything most of us have seen before.

Older people depend on being able to access good quality health and social care, and with the quality and availability of these services already severely compromised by shortages of staff and funding, the idea that there could be any further cuts to them is inconceivable. Both need more resources and a long-term sustainable plan for the future, not further cuts and uncertainty.

Like most of the older people we exist to help, at Age UK we are incredibly worried about what may be to come, and we implore the Government to stand with our older population through this crisis.

Government £14bn short on measures to tackle fuel poverty

Around seven million homes in the UK will experience dire fuel poverty without a further £14bn package of emergency support, according to campaigners. [1]

Despite the Energy Price Guarantee, the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme and other support already announced, more help will be needed to prevent the severe health impacts of living in cold, damp homes crippling the NHS and causing excess winter deaths.

Even including the Energy Price Guarantee, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition calculates that the unit cost of gas has increased by between 153% and 165% since winter 2021, while the unit cost of electricity has increased 63-68%. [2]

The Warm This Winter campaign is now calling for additional financial and non-financial support for households this winter. [3]

Chief among the non-financial asks is an immediate suspension of all forced transfers of households onto more expensive pre-payment meters (PPMs), whether by court warrant or remotely via smart meters. [4]

Financially, Warm This Winter is calling for additional, targeted financial support measures to those who need it most. This would include a third cost of living payment of £325 for those on income linked benefits to be paid on 1 December.

Campaigners have also asked for a further £150 uplift in disability benefits, the restoration of the £20 Universal Credit uplift, increasing the energy bill support payments for people who do not have a mains gas connection and ensuring that all households who received the Warm Homes Discount last winter can access a £150 rebate this winter (regardless of the new process which now uses an algorithm to decide who benefits).

The cost of these additional financial measures would be around £14bn, but the Government could further help those with pre-existing health conditions by suspending all prescription charges in England and suspending any deductions to benefits to recover money owed for a variety of debts and advances, including energy bills.

Sarah Woolnough, CEO of Asthma + Lung UK, said:

With millions of homes set to be plunged into fuel poverty this winter, we’re extremely concerned that the nation’s lung health will rapidly deteriorate if the government doesn’t step up to help the most vulnerable.

If people cannot afford to heat their homes, they may be forced to live in freezing homes where cold and flu viruses can thrive. Cold air is a common trigger for people with lung conditions, with around two-thirds of people with asthma and COPD that we surveyed saying that it can make their symptoms worse.

We know that people with lung conditions are already struggling with price hikes – 1 in 5 that we surveyed said they’d had an asthma attack because of changes they’d made to their lives in response to the cost of living crisis, such as skipping meals, not picking up prescriptions, and using mains-powered medical machinery less. Things will only get worse when temperatures plummet and colds and viruses ramp up.

We need the government to do more for people with chronic health conditions, and to provide targeted financial support for people on low incomes and living with lung disease. Without these measures, there is the real risk that people will be forced to take major risks with their health this winter.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

In addition to supporting households now, Government policy has created a cliff edge in April 2023, with the Energy Bills Support Scheme and additional Cost of Living Payments due to end.

This will result in the numbers of households in fuel poverty rising to almost eight million. The situation will be made worse if benefits are not uprated by inflation and if prescription charges increase.

Therefore the Government must also set out a medium term plan for financial support while we wait for longer term measures to take effect.

Cara Jenkinson, Cities Manager, Ashden said:

Poor quality homes that leak energy are currently causing the NHS £1.4bn a year as well as misery for people in damp, cold homes.

To solve fuel poverty for good, we need a rapid scale-up of home retrofit focused on the areas that need it most, with an investment in the construction skills needed so that work isn’t stalled by a lack of workers.

Tessa Khan, director of Uplift, said:

On top of everything else, this government’s plan to fix the UK’s energy system is also in disarray. We need a government prepared to tackle the crisis at its root, which means moving the UK off volatile fossil fuels with a national insulation programme to cut waste, and a massive acceleration in renewable energy, which is now nine times cheaper than gas. This is the only way to permanently lower energy bills.

The government needs to stop adding to our problems and fix the ones on their desk. This must begin today with providing more targeted help for those who are going to be hit hardest.

Other measures the government could take to support households stay warm this winter, include:

  • The launch of a centralised public information campaign to ensure people are aware of, and signed up to, the Priority Service Register.
  • Guidance to local authorities on best practice in using the Household Support Fund (HSF) to deliver free boiler repairs (where ECO criteria are not met), providing warm packs and financial support on non-means-tested benefits (e.g. ESA).
  • Work with charities and local authorities to increase the provision of energy advice (for example, single local point of contact for those struggling) and to develop guidance on how social prescribing could be used to help tackle fuel poverty.

Working with landlords, the Government could also support tenants in fuel poverty through:

  • Introducing a social rent cap, alongside ring-fenced funding to social landlords so that energy efficiency improvements are not sacrificed in the event of supply chain costs increasing.
  • Introducing a private sector rent freeze (similar to that introduced by the Scottish Government).
  • Urging local authorities to ensure landlords comply with existing private rented sector regulations – highlighting that enforcing these regulations is cost-neutral in the long term.

ENDS

[1] Fuel poverty levels estimated by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition. For methodology and assumptions visit: https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/price-cap-methodology/.

£14bn made up of:

– £325 to c.8m households – £2.6bn

– £150 to c.16m disabled households  – £2.4bn

– £20/week = £1040/year to c.8m households = £8.3bn

– Additional £150 for c.4m off gas households = £600m

– WHD ask = up to £160m

Full details of Warm This Winter are briefing available on request.

[2] Analysis by End Fuel Poverty Coalition on energy prices, full charts available on request.

[3] Warm this Winter is a new campaign demanding the government acts now to help tackle rising energy bills this winter and to ensure energy is affordable for everyone in the future. It is supported by leading anti-poverty and environmental organisations, including Save the Children, WWF and the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.

[4] The Government could do this by issuing a directive to energy firms and Ofgem instructing them to comply with the terms and conditions of pre-payment meter installations, with stringent enforcement and financial penalty for non-compliance. Given that installing these meters severely limits the amount of energy which can be used by these groups, it cannot be possible that installation of PPMs this winter meets the terms of Ofgem rules that PPMs can only be installed if it is “safe and reasonably practicable” to do so.

Blackouts an intolerable situation say campaigners

Commenting on reports that the UK may be subject to rolling black outs or enforced energy cuts, a spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

We need to ensure we have enough supply to help the most vulnerable.

People such as the disabled and elderly or those using respirators, can’t just turn off their energy use. They are already in fuel poverty and keeping usage to a minimum, so it will be life threatening in some situations.

While there may be some scope for some households to reduce usage and save energy, we should not be encouraging self-disconnection or forcing people to live in cold damp homes.

The Government needs to realise that its obsession with fossil fuels has led us to this point and increasing our reliance on them is not the way to end the energy crisis.

This intolerable situation shows that the faster we move to renewables and an improved energy market, the better.

We need a plan to improve energy efficiency, develop more sustainable ways of keeping people warm every winter and for a long term shift away from gas and onto more renewable energy.