Tuesday, February 28, 2012
The growing scourge of fuel poverty
This morning's Independent contains the very disturbing suggestion that more than nine million households will be living in fuel poverty within four years unless the Government directs £4bn a year from carbon taxes to families in greatest need.
The problem with these sort of predictions of course is that they often look like a bid for money, however there is no doubt that the basic premise of growing fuel poverty is correct, given the massive increase in prices combined with the stagnation of the economy and increasing hardship for many families.
The paper says that a new study has revealed that there are a million more households already living in fuel poverty compared with previous estimates, taking the total to 6.4 million. The study, by energy efficiency experts Camco, suggests that the total will hit 9.1 million by 2016:
Mike O'Connor, chief executive of Consumer Focus, said: "It is a harsh truth that an effective strategy to transform the energy efficiency of our homes and to tackle growing numbers in fuel poverty will need far greater ambition and resources. Billions of pounds will go directly from our energy bills to the Exchequer as part of schemes to cut carbon emissions. That money could reap a double benefit if it was directed to reduce massively our wasteful consumption of energy."
The UK Government is already committed to improving energy efficiency of homes across the country of course, but until the effective oligopoly maintained by the fuel companies is broken then the problem of fuel poverty will continue to grow.
The problem with these sort of predictions of course is that they often look like a bid for money, however there is no doubt that the basic premise of growing fuel poverty is correct, given the massive increase in prices combined with the stagnation of the economy and increasing hardship for many families.
The paper says that a new study has revealed that there are a million more households already living in fuel poverty compared with previous estimates, taking the total to 6.4 million. The study, by energy efficiency experts Camco, suggests that the total will hit 9.1 million by 2016:
Mike O'Connor, chief executive of Consumer Focus, said: "It is a harsh truth that an effective strategy to transform the energy efficiency of our homes and to tackle growing numbers in fuel poverty will need far greater ambition and resources. Billions of pounds will go directly from our energy bills to the Exchequer as part of schemes to cut carbon emissions. That money could reap a double benefit if it was directed to reduce massively our wasteful consumption of energy."
The UK Government is already committed to improving energy efficiency of homes across the country of course, but until the effective oligopoly maintained by the fuel companies is broken then the problem of fuel poverty will continue to grow.
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There is a clear relationship between poverty, social deprevation, poor education, income and people voting LABOUR.
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