Volume 53 | Issue 2 | February 2015
Report highlights flaws with fuel poverty strategy A new study into fuel poverty suggests that there is a significant disconnect between the Government's ambition to reduce fuel poverty and the amount currently being spent to address the problem. 'Warmer Homes' is the title of a new report produced by centre-right think tank Policy Exchange that looks at the issue of fuel poverty and the effectiveness of current Government policies to deal with the issue. According to the study, more than 1 million households are not able to afford to heat their homes to a comfortable level, despite being in work. It also argues that households living in the least energy efficient properties would have to spend as much as £1700 extra a year to heat their home to a suitable temperature (between 18 and 20° C). Other statistics highlighted by the report show that 10% of all households in England are in fuel poverty, but this rises to 19% of households living in private rented accommodation. Although fuel prices have reduced in recent months, consumer gas prices increased by 128% over the period 2003 to 2013. The same paper also suggests that only 33% of fuel poverty funding actually benefits the fuel poor and that the UK's housing stock remains woefully inefficient compared to other European countries.
The report calls on the Government to refocus its energy efficiency and fuel poverty spending on improving the nation’s inefficient housing stock. It suggests that subsidies should be more focused on fuel poor households and that the Government needs to focus on the kinds of long-term building efficiency improvements that permanently tackle fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions. Any move to invest in raising the level of energy efficiency in UK homes is likely to win the backing of the heating industry. Baxi has pledged its full support for the report, saying that the next Government needs to take it seriously. UK Marketing Director Andrew Keating comments: “We are fully behind this initiative to stamp out fuel poverty in the UK. The Government needs to acknowledge that fuel poverty is no longer limited to the elderly and vulnerable, and should pledge financial backing to help subsidise energy efficient products and solutions for those households in most need.”
Fuel poverty affects 10% of all households
Author of the report, Richard Howard, says: “Most people assume that it’s the elderly who are most at risk of not being able to heat their homes, but the facts paint a startling picture. Many working households are struggling to afford their energy bills and living in underheated homes. Fuel poverty can severely affect people’s health and also puts a strain on the NHS, so it is absolutely critical that the Government prioritises support to those households most at risk. Improving energy efficiency is clearly the most cost effective way to tackle the problem.”
Charity issues new CO poisoning figures New figures relating to carbon monoxide poisoning in the UK have been released by CO-Gas Safety which this year marks its 20th anniversary of reporting statistics and supporting victims and their families. According to the charity, around 36 people every year die from CO poisoning, which means that it has caused more than 670 deaths since 1995. The charity estimates that there have been more than 4700 near misses in the same time period and suspects that many incidents go unrecorded. This is because GPs almost never diagnose CO and that there
is no automatic testing of dead bodies for CO, even in cases of unexplained deaths. Charity President Stephanie Trotter OBE argues that more needs to be done to cut deaths from this invisible gas: “For the last 20 years we have run a series of initiatives and lobbied Government to raise awareness of this silent killer, but still people are dying and suffering from this invisible killer.” She said the charity continues to demand prime time TV public health information warnings and urges the Government, industry and politicians to join forces to reduce tragedies. ‘’Victims tell us that they
didn’t even know what CO was, let alone how to prevent it. If the gas emergency service carried and used equipment to test gas appliances for CO to identify the appliances emitting CO, it would be a great start.’’ CO-Gas Safety has no official funding and is a victim-based independent registered charity run by directors and trustees who are all volunteers, with a small amount of part time paid help for the data work. It collects CO incidents and deaths from all fuels and logs all fatalities, together with the faulty appliance, on its website (www. co-gassafety.co.uk/deaths). 1st September 2014
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