News Archives - End Fuel Poverty Coalition

UK energy industry profits surge past £125bn since 2020

Energy giants have generated over £125 billion in profits on their UK operations since the energy crisis started according to an analysis of company reports. [1]

Around £40bn has been made in profit in the UK by just 27 energy firms in the last two years, yet there are continued calls from energy industry lobbyists to axe the Windfall Tax in the next Budget.

Researchers working for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition examined the declared profits firms ranging from energy producers (such as Equinor, Shell) through to the firms that control our energy grid (such as National Grid and UK Power Networks) as well as suppliers (such as British Gas) and energy trading firms (e.g. Vitol).

The total profits generated globally by the firms since 2020 stand at over half a trillion pounds, with over four-fifths (£466bn) generated by firms with extensive involvement in the gas industry.

This is despite the fact that the gas sector will no longer be able to meet heating demand using only domestically extracted gas by 2027 and as just 14% of the North Sea reserves are now commercially viable according to official statistics [2].

Further analysis shows that as households face a fifth winter of sky high energy bills, over £50bn of the profits over five years are generated by electricity and gas transmission and distribution firms.

These are the “network costs” consumers pay for maintaining the pipes and wires of the energy system and are usually paid for through standing charges on energy bills. The firms were recently criticised in a report by the House of Commons Energy Security & Net Zero Committee.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

“Energy firms continue to post multi-billion pound profits while millions of households struggle to afford to heat their homes.

“The figures equate to £878 per household, per year in profit. At the same time, average annual energy bills have soared from £1,042 in 2020 to £1,755 today, after peaking even higher in early 2023. [3]

“Even after the temporary windfall tax, oil and gas giants have benefited from exceptional earnings driven by global price spikes, which stands in stark contrast to record energy debt and record levels of fuel poverty.

“The Chancellor must resist pressure to provide a tax cut to the energy industry in the budget and ensure that the system captures excess industry profits fairly and directs revenues to protect vulnerable households and improve the energy efficiency of the nation’s coldest homes.”

Robert Palmer, Uplift Deputy Director, said:

“It is scandalous that oil and gas companies raked in billions in recent years whilst millions of people in the UK still struggle with sky high energy bills.

“Worse, these huge profits aren’t going to support the UK’s energy workers, who are being laid off as the North Sea declines, they’re going to overseas shareholders.

“It’s clear this status quo of continuing to prop up the profiteering oil and gas industry with evermore generous public handouts can’t continue. Rather than give into lobbying by oil and gas bosses for tax cuts, the Chancellor needs to focus on the UK’s long-term energy future.

“That means investing in the UK’s renewable energy industries and supporting workers into secure, long-term jobs that actually serve the UK’s needs and bring down bills permanently.”

Faiza Shaheen, Executive Director at Tax Justice UK said:

“Energy companies’ billions in excess profits are extracted from the pain of millions struggling with the soaring costs of energy and essentials.

“Capitulating to industry lobbying and axing the windfall tax would be an unacceptable decision by the Chancellor, and a sign this government is on the side of the profiteers rather than the public. She must use the Budget to properly tax energy companies and big polluters, and invest in bringing down energy bills for ordinary people.”

ENDS

[1] The data in this tracker has been collated from publicly available company reports and industry sources, with profits adjusted where possible to reflect UK operations. For multinational businesses, UK profit estimates are based on disclosed proportions of revenue, production, or operating assets attributable to the UK, or on reasonable assumptions using sector benchmarks where disclosure is limited. The figures are indicative, providing a consistent basis to assess trends in UK energy-sector profitability and its relationship to household energy costs. These measures differ from company to company due to reporting processes and regulatory requirements in different jurisdictions. In determining which measure of profitability to use, the research has prioritised the measure preferred in the company’s own accounts. The totals declared here include offsetting any losses made by some of the firms in some years of the period examined. 30 firms were monitored, with 27 making a profit over 5 years. These firms were selected by the researchers to create a cross section of the energy industry and to reflect those most frequently covered in the media.

Full information available at: https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/news/energy-firm-profits-tracker/

Data as at 12 November 2025.

The data was compiled by freelance business journalist David Craik and examined and peer-reviewed by a business analyst with board-level experience within complex multinational businesses.

David’s experience has included writing business and city news and features for national newspapers and magazines such as The Daily Mirror, Sunday Times, Wall Street Journal, Scotsman and Daily Express. Much of his content focuses on company financial results and reports in the energy sector and on personal finance issues including wealth management, property, investing and managing household budgets and bills.

[2] https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/north-sea-gas-unable-to-meet-national-heating-needs-from-2027/

[3] £125.7bn in profits divided by 28.6m UK households (ONS) is £4,394 over the course of the 5 years of the energy bills crisis or £878 a year. Ofgem price cap figures from https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/about-fuel-poverty/ofgem-price-cap/

Chancellor mulls £6bn tax cut for gas firms while slashing warm homes budget

Changes to the windfall tax being considered by Rachel Reeves in this month’s budget could see the oil and gas industry handed a £6 billion tax cut, whilst promised investment in energy efficiency to cut household bills is potentially going to be slashed by the same amount (£6.4bn).

With tax increases for working people also widely expected, any roll-back on funding for warm homes would represent yet another broken manifesto promise from this Chancellor, say campaigners.

According to media briefings reported by The Guardian, the Treasury is considering diverting funding from the £13.2 billion Warm Homes Plan — a programme designed to improve cold, damp homes and permanently lower household energy bills — in order to fund short-term energy bill support.

The proposed move would effectively cut the UK’s energy efficiency budget by 40% over five years by substituting parts of the Warm Homes Plan for existing schemes.

Meanwhile, proposals drafted by the oil and gas lobby group Offshore Energies UK, which are being considered by the Chancellor, suggest that removing the Energy Profits Levy at the end of this year, as the industry is pushing for, would lead to a tax loss of £6 billion to the UK Treasury over the next decade.(1)

The oil and gas industry has been lobbying hard for months to scrap the windfall tax in order to reduce their tax bill, despite the sector posting billions in profit, and companies like Shell reporting negative UK taxes last year.

In response to the proposed tax cut, Robert Palmer, deputy director of Uplift said:

“Oil and gas companies have made billions in recent years while millions of people in the UK have struggled with unaffordable energy bills. Worse, firms have chosen to hand these windfalls to overseas shareholders rather than reinvesting them to support UK jobs. To even be considering scrapping measures to cut household bills while cutting taxes for profiteering oil companies would be deeply unfair.”

Palmer also called out the poor economics of the basin and warned Reeves against propping up an industry that is only profitable because of the UK’s generous tax regime.

“The reality is the North Sea is in rapid decline, with most of the gas already burned – and what’s left is increasingly expensive to extract. New drilling is only viable if we hand out even bigger tax breaks to wealthy energy companies, taking money away from public services. Quite apart from the climate impact, it is economic lunacy to continue to allow drilling that would not be viable without the Treasury’s thumb on the scale.”

Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

“Giving tax breaks to fossil fuel giants and failing to collect tax from large corporations while cutting support for those in fuel poverty are short-term acts of weakness by the Chancellor.

“We obviously understand the urgent need to cut energy bills, but the Chancellor – who previously brought us the Winter Fuel Payment fiasco – is not thinking things through. Taking action to improve energy efficiency helps to cut bills in the long run, protect health and reduce our dependence on expensive fossil fuels.

“It’s entirely possible to bring down energy bills in a fair way — by improving insulation, reforming electricity pricing, and using public investment to upgrade our grid. Instead, we’re seeing the Government ignore long-term solutions while considering tax cuts to those who need them least.”

The latest data shows that around 12.1 million UK households are struggling with unaffordable energy bills, with 5 million of those in deep fuel poverty — spending over 20% of their income on energy.

Annabel Rice, senior political adviser at Green Alliance, said:

“If the government is serious about lowering people’s bills for good, they must invest in insulating our homes, not raid schemes that have helped families lower their energy costs to make their sums add up in the budget.

“We’ve seen more than five different insulation schemes from the government in recent years in England and they show us one thing: stop-start policies confuse homeowners, make jobs in this industry less viable and create uncertainty for investors. With almost nine million families in fuel poverty as winter approaches, it’s time for a fully funded, long term Warm Homes Plan.”

The Warm Homes Plan had been expected to support a wide range of upgrades including insulation, heat pumps, home energy advice, and local council-led retrofit schemes. It was announced as a cornerstone of the UK’s mission to reduce energy demand, support vulnerable households, and cut carbon emissions.

But experts warn that diverting its funds to cover existing schemes will drastically limit its impact, especially for households living in the worst conditions — and risks undermining the Government’s own statutory targets to end fuel poverty by 2030.

Jonathan Bean, campaigner at Fuel Poverty Action, said:

“The Government should be focussed on getting homes fixed, and replacing the failed Eco4 scheme with a well funded home upgrade program that delivers high quality work and guaranteed bill savings. We need a bigger investment in retrofit skills and quality control, not a budget cut that ends up in the pockets of the oil and gas giants.”

MPs back major reforms to energy bill support

MPs on the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee have backed a series of reforms to make the energy system fairer and support households facing a fifth winter of high bills.

In a major report on tackling the energy cost crisis, MPs recommended a permanent energy debt relief scheme funded through energy sector excess profits, automatic support for vulnerable households, a social tariff for energy and reforms to the Warm Home Discount.

The Committee also called for urgent action to fix unfair standing charges, improve data sharing to target support and overhaul Cold Weather Payments to ensure help reaches those who need it when temperatures drop.

Crucially, the Committee echoed the Coalition’s warnings about the growing energy debt crisis and proposed a structured, long-term solution to write off unpayable arrears without passing costs onto billpayers.

It also urged the Government and Ofgem to act quickly to rebuild trust in the energy market, strengthen consumer protections and ensure households are not penalised for reducing gas use as the energy system transitions.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

“This report should be used to mark a turning point in the fight to end the energy cost crisis. The cross-party group of MPs have recognised what millions of households already know – our energy system has been stacked against people struggling to heat their homes and urgent change is needed.

“We are particularly pleased that MPs have backed the principle of energy debt relief funded through excess profits in the sector, alongside a social tariff, reforms to standing charges and improvements to the Warm Home Discount and Cold Weather Payments. These are landmark recommendations that could protect the most vulnerable.

“As this report makes clear, warm homes must be treated as a public health priority, with fair pricing, modernised winter protections, social tariffs and stronger rights for renters.

“If the Government is serious about implementing change, the Warm Homes Plan announced next month must be the first step. That means a £13.2 billion plan to create warmer and safer homes for those most in need, independent quality checks, skilled green jobs, trusted local advice services and prioritisation of the lowest-income households in the coldest homes.”

In responses to Government consultations, charities and fuel poverty experts have set out the key tests the Government’s forthcoming Warm Homes Plan and Fuel Poverty Strategy must meet. These include:

Treating warm, safe housing as a public health priority and retain the target to end fuel poverty by 2030
Adopting a 10% fuel poverty measure (after housing costs)
Committing to a 10-year national retrofit programme, agreed across parties, backed by skilled jobs, apprenticeships and national standards
Prioritising the Worst First — low-income households in the coldest, least efficient homes
Guaranteeing independent retrofit assessment, performance monitoring and consumer protections
Providing free, trusted local advice services and one-stop-shops for households
Funding delivery through public spending, not new levies on bills
Introducing targeted financial support including modernised cold weather payments and social tariffs
Empowering local authorities with data access and funding to lead street-by-street schemes
Protecting tenants from “retrovictions” and unfair rent rises

The spokesperson added:
“Warm homes are a basic right. This must be the moment the Government finally commits to a long-term plan to end fuel poverty — not just improve averages or fund short-term schemes.

“We need a decade-long Warm Homes Plan that delivers real-world warmth, safety and affordable bills, backed by independent quality checks, trusted advice and proper protection for tenants and consumers.

“After years of delays and stop-start programmes, it’s time to get on with delivery and ensure support reaches those in deepest need first.”

ENDS

The full report can be read here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmesnz/736/report.html

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition’s evidence to the inquiry can be read online.

Household energy debt surges to £4.43billion

New Ofgem figures reveal that household energy debt has soared to £4.43 billion in Q2 2025 – more than triple pre-energy crisis levels and three-quarters of a billion pounds more than this time last year – leaving millions of families trapped in arrears they cannot escape.

The latest data [1] shows:

£1.45bn in debt and arrears at the end of 2020 (pre-crisis)
£3.69bn last year (Q2 2024)
£4.43bn in Q2 2025 (latest figures)

The regulator also reports that 1,133,683 electricity customers and 926,545 gas customers are now in debt without any repayment arrangement in place. Many households may owe on both accounts, meaning over a million households are struggling in energy debt.

The burden of this energy debt is shared by all bill-payers, with households facing up to an extra £145 a year on their bills to cover the collective cost of debt.

At the same time, new analysis from the Common Wealth think tank shows that around 24% of every household energy bill is taken as profit by the energy industry.

The regulator and Ministers are due to launch a new Debt Relief Scheme in the coming months, but while this is supported by members of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, campaigners have warned it must be simple to understand and accessible. [2]

Debt experts have advised that it must include automatic eligibility for people on means-tested benefits, clear rules on what debt is covered, and flexibility in how households can apply. Experts have also stressed that suppliers should work with debt advice charities to ensure fair and consistent outcomes when implementing the scheme.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

“Energy debt is now driving people into dangerous financial positions as we approach the fifth winter of the energy bills crisis. Previous research has found that almost one in five households in energy debt have turned to illegal money lenders, with households waking each morning fearful of what using electricity or gas might cost them.

“We must urgently write off arrears and reform the system so fewer households are powerless to pay off their debts.”

Independent Age Policy Manager, David Southgate, said:

“Older people on low incomes are increasingly bed bound by the cold – forced to turn in early in hats, gloves, scarves, and extra blankets during the winter to stay warm. Many have fallen into debt in a bid to keep the heating on, with yet another difficult winter just around the corner, they need immediate support.

“We are calling on the UK Government to tackle this mountain of debt with a properly funded and targeted debt relief scheme, alongside wider affordability reform, including a national energy social tariff, to ensure everyone can afford to heat and power their homes.”

Frazer Scott, Chief Executive of Energy Action Scotland, said:

“The latest Ofgem figures show that there has been inadequate debt relief – and there is nothing in the pipeline to make energy genuinely affordable for the households that quite clearly cannot pay.

“The number of accounts in debt continues to rise, with average debts growing as well. Over £580 million in debt has been added in just the first six months of 2025. Without urgent intervention, this crisis will only deepen.”

Robert Palmer, deputy director of Uplift, commented:

“This is a saddening debt crisis for too many people in the UK and is driven in part by obscene profits. It’s just plain wrong that nearly a quarter of every household bill is taken as profit by the energy industry. What’s more, the UK’s heavy reliance on expensive gas added an average of £3,000 per household during the energy bills crisis.

“Yet again while shareholders are celebrating rising prices and huge profits, people are facing stark choices of how to ration their energy. Only by supporting struggling households now, improving energy efficiency and getting us off expensive gas through homegrown renewable energy will ministers be able to get a grip on the situation.”

Jonathan Bean from Fuel Poverty Action, added:

“Energy debt will continue to grow whilst the Government fails to deliver its promised £300 bill reduction, with energy prices 70% higher than five years ago.”

Toby Murray, Policy and Campaigns Manager of Debt Justice, said:

“These figures are a shocking indictment of the government and Ofgem’s failure to act on the energy debt crisis. Record energy debts are leaving millions trapped in arrears for a basic essential, bringing stress and hardship to households already struggling to get by.

“Yet almost a year after Ofgem announced they were looking into a debt relief scheme, not a single household has seen their debts reduced. The government must act now and write off unpayable energy debt.”

ENDS

[1] Data taken from Ofgem’s interactive charts on https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/data/debt-and-arrears-indicators which have recently been updated. Specifically, the headline figures use the chart from total financial value of domestic customer debt and arrears (existing for more than 91 days). Key figures:

Q4 2020 (pre-crisis): £1.45bn

Q1 2022 (pre-Ukraine invasion): £1.81bn

Q2 2024 (pre-General Election): £3.69bn

Q3 2024: £3.82bn

Q4 2024: £3.85bn

Q1 2025: £4.15bn

Q2 2025 (latest): £4.43bn

[2] The End Fuel Poverty Coalition is calling for urgent reform to tackle the energy debt crisis, including:

A Debt Relief Scheme with automatic eligibility for households on means-tested benefits and no arbitrary debt thresholds or forced customer contributions.
An end to punitive late fees, additional charges and rigid repayment plans that push people deeper into hardship.
Guaranteed protection for customers on prepayment meters, with relief available to those forced onto PPMs due to debt.
Longer-term action to cut bills and prevent debt recurring, including a national social tariff, fairer standing charges and pricing structures and a major programme of home energy efficiency upgrades and homegrown renewables.

Fuel poverty statistics show 12m UK households struggling with energy costs

The number of UK households struggling with the cost of their energy bills has hit 12.1 million as campaigners warn Ofgem that people can not take any more price increases. [1]

With the latest price cap announcement due on Wednesday (August 27), experts say even the one percent increase predicted will lead to further suffering. The next rise will come into force in October and cover the period until the end of 2025 before prices will change again from January 2026.

Two fifths (43%) of UK households are struggling with energy bills and spending more than 10% of their household income on gas and electricity based on the research by the University of York. Of these, almost 5m households spend more than 20% of their income on energy, meaning they are in deep fuel poverty.

The figures also enable a comparison between the constituent parts of the UK. Northern Ireland and the West Midlands have the highest poverty rates, followed by Scotland and the North East. Meanwhile, the lowest rates are in Wales, the South West and Eastern England. [2]

The data also reveals types of households which will be hardest by any price rise. Households with children are the most likely to be struggling with their energy costs as are people who rent their homes. There is also a correlation between the lower the council tax band and the higher the fuel poverty rate.

3.2 million of those in fuel poverty are pensioner households, with 964,000 pensioner households in deep fuel poverty, meaning they spend more than 20% of their income on energy.

Meanwhile official figures also reveal that the level of energy debt is still increasing to an all time high, with millions of households owing a combined £4.15bn in debt. [3]

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said:

“Fuel poverty is very much still with us and these figures highlight how vital schemes like the Warm Home Discount are to help those struggling each year.

“But we are now approaching the fifth winter of the energy bills crisis and the time for tinkering with the price cap is over.

“The average household is still paying 67% more for their energy than in winter 2020/21. Ofgem is right to launch a comprehensive review of how energy system costs are allocated, but simply shifting budgets between standing charges and unit rates will not solve the problem.

“We also need to realise that the North Sea is now in terminal decline and unable to meet the UK’s long-term heating needs, despite what some politicians would have us believe.

“This means we must urgently plan to cut our dependence on gas and bring down the cost of electricity.

“Failure to act will lead to even greater reliance on gas imports, reduced energy security and increased energy bills.

“As well as looking at the price cap, we need to scrutinise the profits made by transmission and network companies, while Ministers must step in to ensure investment and funding decisions bring down the cost to bill payers of maintaining our vital infrastructure.”

Campaigners are now urging the Government and Ofgem to look at other ways to raise revenue for network improvements and point to the half a trillion pound profits made by energy companies since 2020 and the £4 billion in excess profits energy networks pocketed after a regulatory decision.

Uplift Executive Director Tessa Khan commented:

“This is unwelcome news for the millions of people who find themselves in fuel poverty, even before it begins to turn cold.

“The primary cause of the years of persistently high energy prices is the UK’s dependency on gas to generate electricity and heat our homes – which at its peak was three times higher than pre-crisis levels and remains almost double what it was.

“Oil and gas firms, who are lobbying against the shift to homegrown renewable energy, want it to stay this way so they can continue to make billions at our expense.

“Any politician who sides with these profiteering oil giants – and opposes the insulation of homes and building of more renewables – is working against the interests of UK pensioners, families and anyone else struggling with unaffordable energy bills.”

Jonathan Bradshaw, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of York, said:

“Official statistics on fuel poverty don’t show the full picture of suffering caused by high energy bills.

“Our research uses benchmark official figures on living standards along with energy tariff data and statistical models to estimate the impact of energy costs on the population as a whole and on different groups of people.

“While the data shows a slight reduction in the numbers of households struggling compared to 2022/23, it is clear that fuel poverty is still with us.”

ENDS

[1] FUEL POVERTY IS STILL WITH US. Munalli, Gianluca; Bradshaw, Jonathan Richard; Richardson, Dominic .

13 p. 2025, Paper.

Research output: Other contribution

https://cpag.org.uk/news/fuel-poverty-still-us

The figures are inline with official data from 2024 for England which state that “the number of households who are required to spend more than 10 per cent of their income (after housing costs) on domestic energy… [for] 2024 [is], 36.3 per cent of households (8.99 million)… up from 35.5 per cent in 2023 (8.73 million)” and predicted a rise for 2025. The English figure for 2025 based on the York data is 9.94 million.

[2] Regional breakdown table sorted by the % of the area paying more than 20% of household income on energy in 2025.

Region	% of households of demographic spending more than 10% of income on energy 2022/23	% of households of demographic spending more than 10% of income on energy 2025	% of households of demographic spending more than 20% of income on energy 2022/23	% of households of demographic spending more than 20% of income on energy 2025
Northern Ireland	60.2	59.3	28.8	27.9
West Midlands	51.9	51.2	23.6	22.3
Scotland	47	44.3	18.9	18.1
North East	48.5	44.5	17.7	17.7
Yorkshire and the Humber	46.5	45.4	17.1	17.1
London	31.8	31.1	16.8	16.8
North West and Merseyside	47.3	45.5	16.7	16.7
East Midlands	43.5	40.9	15	14.3
South East	38.6	36.2	15.5	14.1
East of England	40.8	39.6	14.1	13.9
South West	39.6	38.4	13	12.2
Wales	42.7	42.2	12.1	12.1

[3] Latest figures based on Q1 2025: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/data/debt-and-arrears-indicators

Government urged to prioritise warmth first in £13.2bn home upgrade plan

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition has written to the Minister for Energy Consumers, urging the Government to ensure its £13.2 billion Warm Homes Plan delivers real, lasting benefits for people living in cold, damp and unaffordable homes.

In a detailed briefing also shared with key departments across Whitehall, the Coalition outlines a series of reforms to ensure the landmark retrofit scheme improves lives, protects health and cuts bills for those who need it most.

The Coalition says the success of the scheme should be judged not by how many insulation measures are installed or homes moved to EPC band C, but by how far it goes in ending fuel poverty.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said:

“This is a huge opportunity to fix a scandal that’s been hurting millions of households for years and years.

“Cold homes cause suffering, cost lives and drive up costs for the NHS. The Warm Homes Plan can be the solution – but only if it’s designed around the real needs of people, not just technical targets.”

The Coalition is calling for the Plan to be rooted in a “Warmth First” principle, treating a warm, dry and affordable-to-heat home as a basic human right.

It says the programme must include a “Warm Home Guarantee” to track actual comfort and bill savings, and ensure high-quality installations delivered by skilled local workers.

It also urges the government to fund trusted, face-to-face advice services to help residents through the retrofit journey and access benefits, energy support and legal protections.

The briefing also warns ministers against diverting Warm Homes Plan money into existing schemes, or using it to cut electricity prices for wealthier households. Instead, it argues affordability reforms like levy rebalancing should be funded separately, to avoid punishing low-income households who still rely on gas heating.

In its recommendations, the Coalition draws on lessons from successful past initiatives like the Warm Zones scheme, which provided hands-on support, repeated outreach, and direct help accessing income top-ups—going beyond simple insulation measures to ensure long-term impact.

The spokesperson continued:

“If we’re serious about reducing child poverty, pressure on the NHS, and energy insecurity, this Plan must be more than just insulation. It must be about giving people back control, comfort and dignity in their homes.”

ENDS

To read the full letter and briefing, visit

https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Warm-Homes-Plan-letter-priorities-1.pdf

Housing conditions under scrutiny in new Committee evidence

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition has warned MPs that England’s housing crisis is a public health emergency, with millions living in unsafe homes that cause serious illness, exacerbate inequality, and—in extreme cases—lead to death.

In a submission to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee’s inquiry into housing conditions, the Coalition highlighted widespread failures in both social and private rented housing, including persistent damp and mould, poor insulation, and inadequate heating systems.

Drawing on frontline evidence from health workers and social workers, the Coalition cited:

A Medact report revealing that three-quarters of health workers regularly treat patients whose health is harmed by poor housing.
Social Workers Union data showing that 21% of social workers have seen child safeguarding cases linked to cold, damp or unsafe homes.
Persistent delays in essential repairs and a lack of accountability for landlords across both sectors.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said:

“Cold, damp homes are not just uncomfortable—they’re dangerous. Children are being taken into care because of unfit housing. People are ending up in hospital. In some tragic cases, people are dying.

“This is a public health emergency. We need urgent action to strengthen housing standards, fund local enforcement, and ensure that no home is unfit to live in.”

The Coalition’s evidence also raises serious concerns about recent watering down of the Renters’ Rights Bill, including pro-landlord amendments passed in the House of Lords that weaken tenant protections and delay implementation.

The submission calls for:

Full implementation of Awaab’s Law across both social and private rented sectors.
Strengthened Decent Homes Standards with clear energy efficiency targets.
National minimum standards for temporary accommodation, which currently houses thousands of families in substandard conditions.
A national Housing Health and Retrofit Programme to deliver repairs and upgrades, especially in the poorest-performing homes.

ENDS

The full submission is available to view in this pdf.

Smart meter compensation, standing charge tariffs and grid incentives all set for change

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition has responded to a series of recent announcements from Ofgem and the UK Government aimed at addressing energy affordability and system reform.

Ofgem has confirmed new standards and automatic compensation for customers with faulty smart meters. These measures are intended to reduce delays, improve installation success rates and help ensure more households can access time-of-use tariffs and lower-cost energy deals.

The Coalition has warned this step must only be the beginning as too many households still face faulty meters and are locked out of savings from the best tariffs on the market.

Ofgem must go further by closing loopholes that allow suppliers to dodge responsibility, regularly enforcing automatic compensation, and requiring transparency on smart meter faults and gaps in service. Without working meters, vulnerable households remain excluded from a fair energy system.

Ofgem has also outlined plans to require all suppliers to offer at least one low or zero standing charge tariff from early 2026. The proposals are designed to offer more choice and flexibility, especially for low-use households, though questions remain around eligibility and accessibility for vulnerable and prepayment customers.

The Coalition warned [pdf] that without safeguards, these tariffs may benefit only those who already self-ration energy or have smart technologies.

Prepayment customers, who are most harmed by standing charges, must be prioritised and protected. Ofgem should also consider defaulting low-usage and vulnerable households onto the most suitable tariff automatically. A rushed implementation during winter could do more harm than good.

A wider review of how network and policy costs are recovered through bills is also under way, with Ofgem seeking views on long-term reforms.

The Coalition welcomed the launch of this review but urged Ofgem to accelerate progress. Changes must be designed to protect low-income, low-use households from regressive fixed costs and to ensure fairer distribution of energy system costs. Long-term reform must prioritise affordability and equity, not just consumer ‘choice’ or supplier convenience.

In a separate decision, Ofgem confirmed changes to how the costs of failed energy suppliers are handled.

These changes aim to protect customers from having to absorb the full costs of future supplier collapses, which have added over £2.3 billion to bills in recent years. The Coalition welcomed this long-overdue intervention, calling it an important move to stop households footing the bill for industry failure.

Meanwhile, the UK Government has announced a new policy offering £125 off energy bills every six months for ten years to households living near new electricity pylons.

The Coalition supports efforts to accelerate the grid upgrades needed to connect renewables and large-scale battery storage to the electricity grid. However, infrastructure must be delivered with public consent ensuring that communities have a meaningful say in what gets built and where. This includes having control over how any ‘compensation’ or community benefit funding is used.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

“These steps are moves in the right direction, but the job isn’t done.

“Vulnerable households still face major barriers in accessing fair energy deals, and structural issues like high electricity prices and standing charges remain unresolved.

“With the North Sea running out of gas and import dependence rising, the future of affordable energy lies in homegrown renewables.

“And of course, this needs to be fair to the communities where these vital national projects will take place. But in some areas, investment in local energy projects, insulation schemes, or community facilities may have far greater long-term value than bill discounts.

“Communities must have the power to shape the benefits as well as the infrastructure.”

ENDS

North Sea gas unable to meet national heating needs from 2027

The country will no longer be able to meet heating demand using only domestically extracted gas by 2027, even if new fields are approved, according to new analysis of official North Sea production data.

Official data shows that by 2027, UK gas production is set to fall short of what’s needed just to heat our homes, which currently accounts for 38% of UK gas use. In just two years’ time, more than two-thirds of the UK’s gas needs will be dependent on imports. [1]

The figures provide a clear warning that the North Sea is running out of gas.

Even if new fields are approved, it won’t be enough to reverse the trend and the UK would still be almost entirely (94%) reliant on imports by 2050.

Experts say this has nothing to do with politics or policy — it’s the geological reality after half a century of drilling. Of all the gas estimated to have been in the North Sea basin, just 14% remains commercially viable according to official statistics. [2]

Even the lobbyists working for the North Sea industry admit that the financial viability of any additional extraction is “beyond realistic assumptions” and would only be possible with “major industry change.” [3]

Gas extracted from the North Sea is usually sold on international markets, which also leaves UK consumers subject to volatile prices. But even if the UK took the drastic step of only supplying its national needs, the trend data shows that at current levels of UK demand, existing fields hold just over three years of gas. New fields would add less than half a year.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

“The geological reality is that the North Sea basin is dying and there are limited levels of gas for home heating left. The country is simply running out of gas and no amount of new drilling will stop Britain’s deepening dependency on foreign gas.

“The sooner households are supported to move to alternative heating and cooking systems the better.

“But what’s worse right now is that some politicians are dangerously misleading the public by overstating the North Sea’s continuing role in UK energy security.”

Recent polling by Uplift found that around two-fifths (41%) of the public mistakenly believe that there is enough gas left to significantly reduce or eliminate gas imports. [4]

Donald Trump recently claimed there’s a “century of drilling” left in the North Sea. Nigel Farage says the UK should be “self-sufficient” in gas and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has alleged that gas will power Britain “for generations”.

Tessa Khan, executive director at Uplift commented: “Politicians are deliberately and dangerously misleading the public into thinking this country has a secure energy supply in the North Sea, when it is clear we do not.

“The hard truth is that, after 60 years of drilling, the UK has burned most of its gas and no amount of new drilling will change that. Our reliance on foreign gas is going to increase unless and until we shift to renewable energy, like wind, which we’re lucky to have in abundance.

“We cannot afford another decade of delay. Quite apart from the extra costs that households and businesses will incur from continuing to rely on volatile fossil fuels, and the damage they are causing to our climate, the UK’s energy workers need jobs that have a secure future.”

Polling previously found that two-thirds (67%) of the country are already concerned about the impact of the UK’s reliance on oil and gas.

ENDS

[1] Methodology and assumptions for analysis undertaken by the research team at Uplift on behalf of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.

Residential gas demand is based on estimates from the Climate Change Committee’s Seventh Carbon Budget Balanced Net Zero Pathway (BNZP). If action is not taken to decarbonise in line with the CCC’s BNZP, then the CCC’s Seventh Carbon Budget baseline scenario estimates for residential gas demand suggest that this inflection point will take place in 2026, instead of 2027.

NSTA production projections (March 2025) were used by researchers at Uplift to estimate gas import dependency in the UK through to 2050 under the CCC’s BNZP.

The nation’s gas import dependency is set to rise from 55% today to 68% in 2030, 85% in 2040, and 94% in 2050 — even if new fields like Rosebank, whose reserves are primarily oil destined for export, are given the green light. Even if new licenses were to be approved, the maximum they could reduce import dependency in any given year is again just 2%, meaning that gas import dependency would still soar to 83% in 2040 and 92% in 2050.

On an annual basis, the amounts of gas expected to be produced within already producing or sanctioned UKCS fields were compared against the amounts of gas required to meet UK demand under the Climate Change Committee’s Balanced Net Zero Pathway (as published within the NSTA’s projections).

This established what proportion of UK gas demand could be met by UKCS gas production without the development of new projects, with the remainder needing to be met by gas imports – thus providing a baseline estimate of UK gas import dependency.

This analysis assumes that all gas produced in the UK is used domestically, as estimates for the exportation rates of gas produced in the UKCS are unavailable. However, there is no guarantee that gas produced from UK fields will be used within the UK, and so this is likely to overestimate the amount of gas that will be used to meet UK demand.

As such, this analysis provides the most optimistic estimates of UK gas import dependency. In reality, gas import dependency levels will likely be higher.

To estimate how import dependency could change with the development of new North Sea fields, gas import dependency was recalculated accounting for the NSTA’s production projections for gas with the development of undeveloped discoveries.

To analyse the potential impacts of the Rosebank and Jackdaw projects, gas import dependency was recalculated accounting for the annual gas production estimates published in the Rosebank and Jackdaw Environmental Statements.

Production estimates from the Rosebank and Jackdaw Environment Statements provide the highest range of gas expected to be produced from these fields, which are necessary to assess the worst case environmental impacts. However, the mid case production profiles, which provide the most likely range for production from these fields, are lower. As such, the impacts of the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields on UK gas import dependency will be overstated.

[2] The UK has already extracted 86% of recoverable gas from the UKCS, leaving just 14%, most of which lies within existing fields (8% in existing fields, 1% in new fields, 2% in licensed but undeveloped, and the rest in unlicensed acreage). Based on data in: https://www.nstauthority.co.uk/media/vtjkyqnf/uk-reserves-and-resources-report-as-at-end-2023.pdf

Expert commentary includes:

Andy Samuel, former head of the regulator, North Sea Transition Authority, has said “it’s unlikely, given [the North Sea is] a mature basin and the geology is well-known, that we’re suddenly going to have a situation where we are significantly growing production again.”
Former BP chief Lord Browne has said the decision by the previous government to expand North Sea drilling is “not going to make any difference” to Britain’s energy security and is “symbolic”.

[3] Westwood Global Energy Group “Potential of the UKCS under different scenarios” summary report on behalf of OEUK (June, 2025), p15.

[4] Polling commissioned by Uplift and conducted by Opinium in May 2025, with a representative sample of 2,050 UK adults.

Smart meter rule changes needed as July price cap change comes in

Britain’s smart meter rollout must provide stronger protections for those left without functioning meters or denied access to cheaper energy tariffs.

In its submission to Ofgem’s consultation on Smart Meter Guaranteed Standards of Performance, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said the regulator’s proposals “do not go far enough” and risk “letting down the very people most in need of support.”

The warning comes as the 1 July energy price cap change comes into effect and millions of households are expected to start shopping around for better energy deals. Many of the most competitive tariffs are now only available to customers with working smart meters.

Consumers without functioning smart meters, or who have been unable to get one installed, are often excluded from these deals, further widening the gap between those who can and cannot afford to heat their homes.

“This is fast becoming a two-tier energy system,” the report warns.

“Households without smart meters, often through no fault of their own, are now locked out of the most affordable tariffs. This creates a form of discrimination and risks trapping more people in fuel poverty.”

The Coalition’s submission lays out two key categories of compensation. First, it recommends quarterly automatic compensation for ongoing failures such as:

A smart meter not being connected by the Data Communications Company (DCC).
Areas with no DCC coverage despite consumer requests.
Installation failures in buildings with architectural challenges (e.g. stone walls, first-floor flats).
Smart meters that fail to communicate with suppliers or the DCC.
Smart meters that don’t work properly after installation.

Secondly, it calls for one-off automatic payments for each occasion where:

Meter readings are recorded incorrectly during installation.
Installation appointments aren’t provided within a set timeframe.
Engineers miss scheduled appointments.
Installations fail due to supplier-related issues.

The Coalition says that suppliers should be required to pay compensation even when third-party organisations are at fault, and then reclaim the cost from those responsible in a significant departure from the current system.

It warns that current proposals rely on the phrase “within a supplier’s control” before compensation can be paid out which risks creating loopholes that allow firms to dodge accountability.

Separately, the Coalition has raised concerns with regulators about the impact of increasing reliance on time of use tariffs on vulnerable groups who have less ability to shift demand to alternative times of the day.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

“Smart meters can be a force for good, helping households manage their usage, access better tariffs, and reduce costs. But we need to remember those households who are unable to access these tariffs.

“It’s time for energy companies to take full responsibility for the broken smart meter rollout. Consumers have already paid billions for this programme through their bills, yet they are the ones being left without working meters, without access to the best tariffs, and without proper compensation.

“All of these issues are happening at the same time as we see ongoing structural problems in the UK’s energy pricing system continue to drive up the cost of electricity, which remains closely linked to volatile global gas markets under the marginal pricing model.

“The geological reality is that the North Sea basin is dying and there are limited levels of gas for home heating left, the UK is simply running out of gas. No amount of new drilling will stop Britain’s deepening dependency on foreign gas.

“The sooner households are supported to move to alternative heating and cooking systems the better.”

ENDS

The full response to the Ofgem consultation is available to read as a pdf.