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Chancellor in last chance saloon to fix UK’s broken energy system

Campaigners from Warm this Winter are urging the Chancellor to back real measures to fix the UK’s energy system, with a rally outside Parliament timed to coincide with the ‘mini-budget’.

Despite the UK Government’s Energy Price Guarantee, it is estimated that 7 million households – over 16 million people – across the UK will still be in fuel poverty this winter.

As well as more targeted support on bills, the coalition is calling for a coherent plan to reduce energy costs permanently through a national rollout of home insulation and a massive acceleration of renewable energy, which is now nine times cheaper than UK gas.

As the Chancellor has previously conceded, doubling down on domestic gas production, whether in the North Sea or fracking, will not lower bills.

On Friday, MPs are being invited to find out more about the campaign’s demands at an event being held in Portcullis House.

This week, more than 70 organisations called for more measures to improve energy efficiency. From energy firms to climate campaigners and from charities to professional bodies, the groups all urged the Chancellor to take action to help people keep their homes warm.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition said:

This is the last chance saloon for the Chancellor to provide the support needed by 7 million households to stay warm this winter.

Without this help millions will face the winter struggling in cold damp homes. This will cause health problems for many and place more strain on the NHS and social care system.

We need to see additional short-term measures to provide additional financial help to the most vulnerable.

But we also need to see the Chancellor investing in ending fuel poverty for good.

This can only be done by increasing support for improving the energy efficiency of people’s homes and backing Britain’s generation of cheap and clean renewable energy.

Alethea Warrington, campaigns manager at climate charity Possible, said:

The government has the chance to end the energy crisis and get the UK off gas for good. Onshore wind is now ten times cheaper than gas power, but new wind projects are still blocked in England despite being extremely popular.

A real plan for growth would tax the grotesque profits of fossil fuel companies rather than handing them hundreds of millions of pounds of our money. Then the government should get on with delivering cheap renewable energy and warmer homes.

Tessa Khan, director of Uplift, which campaigns for a just transition away from fossil fuels, said:

In every constituency across the country, many households and businesses are looking at their energy bills with dread, even with this government support, knowing that this situation is unsustainable.

We urge MPs to push for measures that will help people this winter and make sure the country is in a better position in winters to come.

Even if it were possible, more domestic gas won’t lower bills. All it will do is increase industry profits and lock us into an unaffordable energy source for longer than necessary.

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.

Its demands of government are:

  1. Emergency support now: Provide a new package of financial support to people who, without additional urgent action, will be on the front-line of poverty this winter.
  2. Help to upgrade homes: Launch a properly-funded programme of home upgrades and insulation across the UK to bring down bills and prevent energy waste.
  3. Cheap energy: More than triple the amount of renewable energy in the UK by 2030, including wind and solar generated in harmony with nature, so that we can permanently lower bills.
  4. Free us from oil and gas: Stop opening up new oil and gas fields so that we can escape our dependence on volatile fossil fuels.

Notes to editors

[1] Members of the Warm this Winter coalition will stage a ‘mini-rally’ in Parliament Square from 12.30-1.30pm, when there will be an opportunity for photographs.

There will also be a drop-in for MPs in Room P, Portcullis House from 10-12pm, where will MPs will be able to be introduced to and able to ask questions about the campaign.

Coalition reacts to Energy Price Guarantee announcement

Despite the UK Government’s Energy Price Guarantee, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition estimates that 7m households across the UK will be in fuel poverty this winter.

A spokesperson from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

While many households will benefit from the price cap freeze, the Prime Minister offered no detail of any additional support for the millions of households who will be left behind in fuel poverty this winter.

Many of these people are struggling already and include those who are elderly, disabled or with pre-existing health conditions. Without more support to keep them warm this winter, the pressures on the NHS and social care system will increase.

And without further investment in measures such as energy efficiency for those homes worst affected by fuel poverty and renewables, the plans will just be an expensive sticking plaster.

Adam Scorer, chief executive of fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) said:

The UK government’s plan to freeze energy bills means the average household will pay around £2,500 a year, instead of the predicted £3,549 average a year. This will bring huge relief. It means more than 24 million households will face lower bills this winter. And it could help stop over 2 million households from being plunged into fuel poverty.

However, despite the good news, many households in serious fuel poverty need more than reassurance about future prices, they need rescuing from current prices.

Just over 12 months ago the average annual bill was just £1,271. Even with this price freeze the average bill has doubled in a year. Last year 4.5 million UK households were fuel poor, now we predict that it will be 6.7 million – far better than the 8.9 million without support, but still more needs to be done. In particular, measures need to work for households in Northern Ireland who are outside the GB energy market and its price cap.

The new Government must not forget that the most vulnerable need targeted support. Those who use more energy in their homes because of medical conditions, those who are elderly and those on very low incomes need extra help so they don’t have to ration their usage, putting their physical and mental health at risk. Those on prepayment meters must not be forgotten either. They would benefit from a lower rate or additional relief from huge standing charges.

We hope too, that longer term the Prime Minister will focus on greater investment in energy efficiency. It not only saves consumers money and makes homes warm and safe places to live, it creates jobs, provides an economic return to the Treasury and reduces strain and costs for our stretched health services.

Jess Ralston from ECIU commented:

The PM’s plan delivers on emergency bill help this winter, but lacks any kind of plan for dealing with the root cause that expensive gas and poor quality homes are costing bill and tax payers billions.

Every pound spent by Treasury on insulation this winter could pay back by the next election by cutting the £150bn energy price freeze bill landing on the exchequer. It’s simple, using less gas improves our security and lowers our bills.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation told the BBC that there will still be an  £800 gap between the overall rise in the cost of living and the support package that the poorest families were receiving. JRF chief analyst Peter Matejic said:

The government’s energy price freeze headed off a stratospheric predicted price increase from October, but struggling households remain extremely worried about how they are supposed to fill this gap.

This shows Liz Truss’s job isn’t done. When she unveils further plans as part of her fiscal statement she must remember the many low income families suffering in hardship.

Warm This Winter campaign members, The Wildlife Trusts tweeted their opposition to the Government’s plans to include fracking as part of the plans:

More reaction from members of the Coalition to follow.

Almost total fuel poverty in some areas, despite price freeze plan

Some areas of the country risk seeing almost every home in fuel poverty without a comprehensive plan from the new Prime Minister. [1]

Even taking into account rumoured plans for a freeze on energy bills, over twenty neighbourhoods in Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Stoke and Wolverhampton could see fuel poverty rates of over 75 per cent of households from 1 October 2022. Some will reach close to every household in the area. [2]

Hundreds of other areas across swathes of the country – from Southampton to Middlesborough and from Essex to Lancaster – will also see significant levels of fuel poverty this winter. [3]

As the new Cabinet finalises plans for the support package for households this winter, the figures highlight how parts of the country will experience fuel poverty differently.

A briefing to MPs and Peers from the Warm this Winter campaign calls on Parliamentarians to push for a coherent plan to tackle the energy bills crisis through a national rollout of home insulation and affordable renewables to wean the country off gas. [4]

The campaign is also demanding that the new government provides more direct emergency financial support for everyone this winter, but particularly low-income households.

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

We need to see the right support get through to the right people.

The Government’s plans focus on offering welcome universal support through a price freeze, but we also need additional help for the millions of households in fuel poverty who are already struggling.

These new figures show this can vary significantly by region and by property type.Any investment this winter also needs to include long-term solutions such as a support for energy efficiency and a boost for renewables to help move the country away from fossil fuels.

Jacky Peacock, Head of Policy at Advice for Renters said:

Renters are particularly hard hit as inflation and scarcity of private rented homes are pushing up rents at an unprecedented rate, leaving little or nothing to spend on energy bills. Without the right action from the Government, we risk seeing a huge explosion in homelessness.

Rachael Williamson, Head of Policy and External Affairs at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said:

Social landlords across the country are taking a range of actions to support vulnerable residents under financial strain where they can, but there is a limit to what the housing sector can do.

The pressures are so great that many households now have negative budgets, even after all avenues of support have been exhausted. Many social housing providers are themselves challenged by above inflation cost increases.

Urgent support is needed, targeted to help people on the lowest incomes and substantial enough to meet the scale of the challenge.

Graham Duxbury, Chief Executive of community environmental charity Groundwork, said:

Rising levels of fuel poverty are creating a public health emergency. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the stark health inequalities in our communities and without urgent action from the government these will become even more extreme.

Every day, our energy advisers visit people who are unable to heat their homes, leading to problems with damp and mould. The physical impact on health can be devastating and fuel poverty also damages people’s mental health.

On local authority level, the areas that will be worst affected are, Barnsley, Birmingham, Coventry, Hull, Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham, Norwich, Sandwell, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton. The whole of West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire as well as Liverpool, Newcastle-under-Lyme, North East Lincolnshire, Scarborough, and the London boroughs of Newham and Barking & Dagenham will also be hit hard with a GBP2,500 price cap.

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

The Government must fund local insulation programmes in the areas where fuel poverty is highest, and councils should not have to compete against each other for this funding. We need a rapid scale up of energy efficient retrofit which will insulate people against further price rises, cut carbon and create jobs across the country.

The Warm This Winter petition supporting the campaign’s demands has been signed by 120,000 people since it was launched last weekend while Fuel Poverty Action’s petition for Energy For All, a free allocation of energy to meet each household’s needs, has been signed by 557,000 people and will be delivered to the new Prime Minister on 19 September.

Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action said:

People of all ages are being robbed of even the essentials of life while massive energy corporations chalk up undreamed of profits.

Over half a million have signed our petition for Energy For All: The energy to ensure we can heat and light our homes must be free and guaranteed, and the money must come from the industry that is causing this crisis to begin with.

People who can well afford to pay extra should no longer pay a lower price than those who are frightened to turn on a light in damp, poorly insulated bedsits.

Alethea Warrington, campaigns manager at climate charity Possible, said:

Our failure to get off gas for good is fuelling the energy costs and climate crises. Drilling for more gas would totally fail to alleviate the unaffordable energy costs that are pushing people into poverty, as any gas would take decades to come online and would then be sold in global markets.

But we do have a solution – clean, cheap, domestic renewable energy like onshore wind and solar, which can come online quickly and is around a tenth of the cost of gas power.

Renewables are popular across the UK, and it’s past time for the government to get on with delivering them.

The Warm This Winter campaign launched on 26 August in response to the growing energy bills crisis. The campaign demands that the government provides more emergency money for people this winter, funding to help everyone cut their bills with better insulation, and rapidly moves the country away from expensive gas and onto cheaper, renewable energy.

New modelling by Tax Justice UK, found that a 95% excess profits tax on North Sea oil and gas companies could raise up to £44 billion a year for two years and would almost cover the cost of living package the government is set to announce.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

[1] Estimates for the previous price cap announcements show that from 1 October, 21 million people in around 9 million homes (32%) will be in fuel poverty this winter based on levels of support pledged up to 05.09.22 and are reflective of the definitions of fuel poverty used in official statistics. The figures were set to grow to around 28 million people in 12 million UK households (42%) from January 2023 unless urgent action is taken by the Government.

Based on multiple media reports of a “price freeze” of energy bills at a level of GBP2,500 from 1 October 2022 (and with the GBP400 promised support, this falls to GBP2,100), the End Fuel Poverty Coalition estimates that 16.4 million people in 6.9 million UK households will still be left in fuel poverty in winter 2022/23 without government support. c.5.3 million of these households will be in England.

Regional data for England based on LSOA level calculations or local authority / metropolitan authority level. Methodology, assumptions and definitions available at https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/price-cap-methodology/ (page being updated with latest figures, but assumptions and methodology remain).

Millions more are also set to suffer based on more general measures of fuel poverty and fuel stress used by some academics and campaigners.

[2] Selection of the neighbourhoods of the country in almost total fuel poverty from 1 October 2022. Based on 23 out of 32,844 LSOA areas.

Birmingham: https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/154406.html

Stoke on Trent: https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/114803.html

Leeds: https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/77587.html

Sheffield: https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/74208.html

Hull: https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/79055.html

Coventry: https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/75782.html

Wolverhampton: https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/76624.html

[3] Over 400 (411) neighbourhoods will see fuel poverty at levels exceeding 55% of households.

[4] Briefing note to Members of Parliament – link here. Briefing note on the Energy Bill for Members of the House of Lords – link here.

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. Its demands of government are:

  1. Emergency support now: Provide a new package of financial support to people who, without additional urgent action, will be on the front-line of poverty this winter.
  2. Help to upgrade homes: Launch a properly-funded programme of home upgrades and insulation across the UK to bring down bills and prevent energy waste.
  3. Cheap energy: More than triple the amount of renewable energy in the UK by 2030, including wind and solar generated in harmony with nature, so that we can permanently lower bills.
  4. Free us from oil and gas: Stop opening up new oil and gas fields so that we can escape our dependence on volatile fossil fuels.

New PM and politicians urged to support genuine solutions to energy crisis

The new Prime Minister, MPs and Peers are being urged to back calls by campaigners to lower energy bills.

A briefing to MPs and Peers from the Warm this Winter campaign calls on Parliamentarians to push for a coherent plan to wean the UK off gas through a national rollout of home insulation and affordable renewables.

The campaign is also demanding that the new government provides more direct emergency financial support for everyone this winter, but particularly low-income households.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

If the new Prime Minister is serious about dealing with energy bills and the long term issues of energy supply, the Government must back plans for lower energy bills now and in the future.

That means more emergency money for people this winter, funding to help everyone cut their bills with better insulation, and a rapid move away from expensive gas and onto cheaper, renewable energy.

A Warm This Winter petition supporting the campaign’s demands has been signed by 120,000 people since it was launched last weekend.

The rapidly growing campaign is working with Peers to table a series of amendments to the Government’s flagship Energy Bill, which starts Committee Stage in the Lords today, that would force the new Prime Minister to reduce the UK’s dependency on global gas markets.

Briefing note to Members of Parliament – link here.

Briefing note on the Energy Bill for Members of the House of Lords – link here.

In response to the crisis, Liz Truss has pledged to “exploit all of the gas in the North Sea” as well as supporting fracking where there is the consent of communities.

Experts have warned that increasing domestic gas production would do next to nothing to lower energy bills. In a speech this week, Boris Johnson also expressed doubt that fracked gas would “prove to be a panacea” for the energy crisis. Instead, he noted that offshore wind is the cheapest form of electricity in the UK and is now nine times cheaper than UK gas.

Tessa Khan, director of Uplift said:

In every constituency across the country, households and businesses are looking at their energy bills with dread, knowing that they cannot fix this on their own.

Finally, MPs now have an opportunity to push for measures that will help people this winter and make sure the country is in a better position in winters to come.

Even if it were possible, more domestic gas won’t lower bills. All it will do is increase industry profits and lock us into an unaffordable energy source for longer than necessary.

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. Its demands of government are:

  1. Emergency support now: Provide a new package of financial support to people who, without additional urgent action, will be on the front-line of poverty this winter.
  2. Help to upgrade homes: Launch a properly-funded programme of home upgrades and insulation across the UK to bring down bills and prevent energy waste.
  3. Cheap energy: More than triple the amount of renewable energy in the UK by 2030, including wind and solar generated in harmony with nature, so that we can permanently lower bills.
  4. Free us from oil and gas: Stop opening up new oil and gas fields so that we can escape our dependence on volatile fossil fuels.

Members of the Warm this Winter coalition wrote to the Conservative leadership candidates in July urging them to use the summer to come up with credible proposals for ensuring that every household could afford to heat their home this winter and – with gas prices expected to stay high until at least 2025 – for lowering energy costs in future.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition concluded:

We urge MPs to back these calls for genuine solutions to help people this winter and in future, and to ignore the special pleading of the oil and gas industry.

The seriousness of this crisis demands that they back measures that will tangibly make a difference to people’s lives.

Fuel poverty levels set to rocket as petition passes 100,000 mark

Over 12 million households (42%) across the UK face fuel poverty this winter, according to predictions from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.

The estimates take into account support announced by the Government so far and are historically reflective of the definitions of fuel poverty used in official statistics.

From the price cap rise on 1 October, the estimates show that 21 million people in around 9 million homes (32%) will be affected this winter. The figures are then set to grow to around 28 million people in 12 million UK households (42%) from January 2023 unless urgent action is taken by the Government.

The figures come as over 110,000 people have already signed the Warm This Winter petition calling for immediate government action.

The petition was only launched last Friday as the Ofgem price cap for this winter was confirmed. The Warm this Winter campaign demands that the government provides more emergency money for people this winter, funding to help everyone cut their bills with better insulation, and rapidly moves the country away from expensive gas and onto cheaper, renewable energy.

The figures come as a new report by University College London’s Institute of Health Equity (IHE) predicts “a humanitarian crisis’ for children stuck in cold homes and reveals the public health crisis fuel poverty will cause.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

The IHE report backs up our worst fears about just how devastating the winter energy bills crisis will be.

The public is clamouring to be kept Warm this Winter and we need to see more emergency money for people this winter, funding to help everyone cut their bills with better insulation, and a rapid move away from expensive gas and onto cheaper, renewable energy.

Without urgent Government action, the impact of rising levels of fuel poverty on our nation will be profound and devastating.

Meanwhile, the Resolution Foundation has warned that the next prime minister’s time in office looks set to be dominated by the “terrifying” prospect of the biggest squeeze in living standards for a century.

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

While the leadership candidates fall back on the failed fossil fuel solutions of the past, the public are demanding fresh thinking.

The thousands of people who have signed the Warm This Winter petition are proof that the public want both short term and long term solutions to the fuel poverty crisis.

We need to reject expensive, dirty, fossil fuels and embrace renewable energy and improved energy efficiency of buildings, alongside immediate financial support this winter.

Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action, commented:

Energy producers and suppliers are making record profits from putting up prices to a level that millions will struggle to pay.

The result will be many thousands of deaths in cold damp homes, widespread health crises, cold and hungry children unable to play or do homework, and older people who can’t be discharged from hospital because their homes are not fit to live in.

The present pricing framework is upside down: the poorest customers pay the highest prices. Our Energy For All proposal would reverse this: each household will receive enough energy to cover its basic needs, paid for by higher prices for profligate energy use, and reversing the flow of taxpayers money to fossil fuel profiteers.

The spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition added:

These predictions represent figures we may expect to go on to see reported in official statistics.

The households affected in these numbers all have a real risk of making daily economic sacrifices that compromise their standard of living, with many of them at risk of health complications caused by living in a cold damp home.

Notes

Methodology, assumptions and definitions available at https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/price-cap-methodology/.

Regional figures related to this measure will be published in September 2022. Millions more are also set to suffer based on more general measures of fuel poverty and fuel stress used by some academics and campaigners. The latest estimates from the University of York show that on a measure of 10% of income being spent on energy bills the numbers are 54% of households from October rising to 78% of households in January 2023. However, this is not the definition used by the different UK governments.

Ofgem to face legal challenge as price hike news sinks in

As news about the October Ofgem 80% price hike sinks in, and estimates from Cornwall Insight suggest it could reach £5,387 from 1 January 2023, further End Fuel Poverty Coalition members have reacted to the news.

The Good Law Project has confirmed that, as a result of the announcement, it will sue Ofgem over its decision. Jo Maugham, Director of Good Law Project said:

The announcement today will devastate families. Just who and what is Ofgem for? Do not be fooled. This is a choice. And the choice they’ve made is to let low-income consumers and small businesses bear the brunt of this crisis.

We believe Ofgem can – and should do more. We intend to put the question before the High Court, and will ask for a fast-tracked timeline to reflect the urgency of this crisis.

Repowering interim CEO, Felix Wight, commented on the price hike:

Today’s news is devastating for millions. But let’s be clear – this is not an energy crisis- it is a fossil fuel crisis, and a political crisis.

Successive governments have failed to respond to the clear majorities calling for decisive action on climate change, and we have been taken down a strategic cul-de-sac where we have lost control of our energy costs.

Many of us have seen this coming, spoken up, and been ignored. We now find ourselves in a hostage situation with fossil fuel producers, with the government considering paying up to £100Bn in ransom.

Putting the burden on individuals to take the hit for the government’s own failure to plan is callous and risks a breakdown in the fabric of our society and economy.

The community energy movement offers a clear alternative- a bottom-up approach to making our 28 million homes more comfortable and affordable, the opportunity for everyone to benefit from home-grown renewable energy, and a model that re-invests in people and communities.

We know it works because those communities who have been able to set up their own energy infrastructure are benefiting right now from fossil-free power that helps protect them from this desperate scramble for natural gas at any price.

Spending just a fraction of the £100Bn fossil fuel subsidy to support community owned energy would start a genuine transformation in our energy landscape and put power where it belongs- in the hands of households across the country.

The time has come to face down the politicians and companies that have lost our trust, and start building an energy system that works for everyone.

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, said:

Although the ballpark figure for the new price cap had been trailed in advance there will be many older people for whom today’s announcement is completely new and a huge shock. Millions of pensioners will now be coming to terms with the reality of what it means for them: the prospect of trying somehow to get through the autumn and winter with prices soaring and yet with very little flex in their fixed incomes. It’s a truly frightening prospect and one that most could not have prepared for, and never expected to face at this point in their lives. I think a lot of older people will be utterly bewildered that it has come to this and will also feel badly let down, and I can’t say I blame them.

The new Prime Minister must make their first act providing additional support for the millions of households in our country whom rising inflation is set to overwhelm, among them many pensioners. We are fast approaching a national emergency which will leave a significant proportion of the population unable to afford even a basic standard of living. Every day older people are telling us how scared they are; they need urgent reassurance from the Government that they will not abandon them.

It’s later than the Government thinks: we understand that there is essentially a transition underway between one Prime Minister and the next, but every day the economic forecasts seem to worsen and yet there is no clear word from the centre about how they will respond. Unfortunately, this is increasing the sense of insecurity many older people feel.

That’s why the new Government must act quickly to give older people hope and confidence. In the meantime, it would be extremely helpful if both candidates made it clear that they will stand by those with most to fear from soaring inflation, among them many pensioners, over the difficult months to come.”

Adam Scorer, National Energy Action (NEA) chief executive, added:

The scale of harm caused by these price rises needs to sink in. A warm home this winter will be pipedream for millions as they are priced-out of a decent and healthy quality of life.

We’ve all seen the estimates from Cornwall Insight for the past months. Government has had ample time to prepare an intervention to match the challenge. We know who gets hit hardest, what impact it will have and how to get money into the pockets or off the bills of the most vulnerable.

Without bold action to support the most vulnerable and those on the lowest incomes, this will effectively prise their fingers from the cliff edge and push them over the precipice.

The government needs to immediately upgrade the household support package it first announced back in May. Households need money in their pockets to weather this storm or we are going to see millions in dangerously cold homes, suffering in misery with unimaginable debt and ill health.

Even with a mild winter, millions are facing a big freeze. Action is needed now to prevent the bleakest of winters.

A new Warm This Winter campaign, backed by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, has also launched a petition to call for urgent Government action.

Price cap confirmation like a dagger to the hearts of millions

End Fuel Poverty Coalition members have reacted to news that Ofgem has confirmed the price cap will increase from £1,971 to £3,549 from 1 October 2022. In winter 2021/22 the cap was set at £1,277.

For pre-payment meter customers, the rise will be even more punishing with the average annual bill for these 4.5 million customers due to go up to £3,608.

In response, a new campaign backed by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, Warm This Winter, has launched a petition to call for urgent Government action.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

Today’s Ofgem price hike is like a dagger to the hearts of millions of people up and down the country.

Sarah MacFadyen, Head of Policy & External Affairs at Asthma + Lung UK, said:

Ofgem’s latest energy cap price hike risks pricing people with lung conditions out of breathing. Winter is already the deadliest season for people with lung conditions, and the cost of living increase will only make this worse and put seismic pressure on the NHS at a time where people, especially those with lung conditions, need it more than ever.

Cold air is a top trigger for people living with lung conditions like asthma and COPD, leaving people fighting for breath. Cold weather can also contribute to mould and damp – a trigger for around 2.5 million people with asthma in the UK. The best way for people with lung conditions to stay well is to ensure they take their medication and keep their houses warm, but rising costs could leave people choosing to skip their medication or turn off their heating.

As a charity we’re already seeing a 150% spike in calls to our helpline for support with financial and welfare benefits advice, and we’re worried that as energy prices rise we’re going to see a sharp decline in the country’s lung health this winter. With the triple threat of freezing homes, colds and flu, and expected COVID-19 peaks, we’re running the risk of yet another major healthcare crisis. As part of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, we’re calling on the UK government to provide more financial support for people with long-term health conditions and on low incomes, so they can afford to keep their homes warm this winter.

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s UK Chief Executive, said:

As a charity that supports people living in fuel poverty, we are alarmed at the volume of requests for help that are coming through. With more price rises due over the winter, we are deeply concerned that those most vulnerable won’t have access to help they desperately need.

The latest forecasts make it clearer still that urgent action is needed to help people cope with this worsening crisis which will lead to unprecedented hardship. 

Energy companies, charities and independent experts all agree that the measures in place are not enough. As well as more emergency financial support and a long-term commitment to improving the energy efficiency of our homes we also need more – and better coordinated – advice. Groundwork’s Green Doctor service is one of many trying to help people through practical advice and emotional support, but these services are too often reliant on short-term funding with complex rules.

What we need is simpler, more stable funding models so that we can help those worst off to make best use of the help they’re getting and preserve as much warmth as they can this winter, but also help those who are being pitched into fuel poverty for the first time.

Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action, added:

These astronomical price rises are completely unnecessary. Energy costs no more to produce than it did last year. People will go without food to pay these bills, while the energy generators and suppliers make a killing: our money goes straight into wealthy shareholders pockets, and into further investment in expensive, polluting, and climate-wrecking oil and gas. The government is adding to this heist by increasing the millions of pounds they daily pay in subsidies to fossil fuel giants while offering only sticking plasters to UK residents.

They must urgently insulate homes, switch to cleaner, cheaper renewable sources of energy, and reverse the gross injustices of the present pricing framework, including high prepayment prices, high standing charges, and more.

Fuel Poverty Action is advocating Energy For All – a completely new pricing system, where every household will receive, free enough energy to cover basic needs. It will be paid for by higher prices for profligate energy used, windfall taxes, and an end to fossil fuel subsidies. Our petition, with over 408,000 signatures will be delivered on 19 September.

Ofgem has not been protecting customers, and with the Good Law Project we are challenging their priorities. Without radical change, many more thousands will die this winter in cold homes.

Following reports that rural areas will be heavily affected by the rising price cap, Richard Quallington, Executive Director of Action with Communities in Rural England said:

The fact rural parts of the country are some of the worst affected is no surprise to us. Much of the housing stock in the countryside is older and more difficult to heat and many households still depend on heating oil which is not subject to the price cap.

This, combined with typically lower rural incomes and the cost of travelling to access jobs and services is creating the perfect storm in the countryside.

The challenge for policy makers is twofold. They need to find ways of getting more financial support to the people who most need it, and this requires more creative localised responses in rural communities. And there also needs to be a longer-term plan for improving the energy efficiency of homes which is suited to the fabric of older buildings. The needs of rural communities cannot be overlooked.

Ross Matthewman, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, said:

Following reports that Ofgem is to announce yet another crippling increase in energy bills, we urgently call on the UK government to intervene to protect millions of households being plunged into fuel poverty this winter.

While we welcomed the government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme, it is apparent that £400 spread over six months is simply not going to be enough to tackle the spiralling cost of energy crisis, with more significant intervention needed.

Not only are we are calling on the government to double the amount of financial support provided to households to protect households this winter but urging them to introduce a raft of energy efficiency measures. Such measures can act both as a means of supporting households most in need right now as well as shielding households from spiralling energy bills in the long-term. Energy efficiency measures also  play a key role in fighting climate change and reducing carbon emissions.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition spokesperson concluded:

As a result of the decision, parents will be unable to feed their children, the sick and elderly will be condemned to worsening health, disabled people will go without vital medical equipment and households will be forced into poverty for the first time in generations.

All the solutions lie at the Westminster Government’s door, yet it is silent in the face of this looming disaster.

We need emergency financial support, especially for the most in need. But we also need reform to Britain’s broken energy system as well as increased support for energy efficiency measures and homegrown renewables.

Further reaction and revised predictions on the levels of people expected to be in fuel poverty will be published by the Coalition in due course.

The Warm This Winter petition can be signed online: https://www.warmthiswinter.org.uk/#petition

Ofgem criticised for standing charge decision

Campaigners have written to Ofgem criticising the “gross injustice” of the current energy bills standing charges regime.

Standing charges make up a portion of the energy bill which every household user pays, regardless of how much energy they actually use.

Last week, Ofgem confirmed that the cost of market failures (e.g. energy firms collapsing) would continue to be recouped from consumers through the standing charges.

The decision comes just weeks after Ofgem confirmed an “inhumane” increase in energy bills will take place in January 2023 as well as this October. Ofgem are also now facing the prospect of legal action against its decisions following a notice of action from the Good Law Project last week.

Now Fuel Poverty Action and Disabled People Against Cuts have together written to Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brierley about present standing charges, including loading the cost of failed suppliers onto this part of people’s bills.

The letter states:

It is appalling that yet again Ofgem is punishing low income customers for its own failed regulation and the upside down priorities of the energy industry.  … This is consistent with the blinkered approach that has led you to give “too much benefit to companies at the expense of consumers”, in the words of  Christine Farnish, the Ofgem director who resigned recently.

Ofgem has claimed that high standing charges are the only way to protect high users, some of whom are people with health needs for electricity, e.g. for electrical medical equipment.

But the two groups suggest that Ofgem’s obligation towards vulnerable customers is being abused as an excuse for policies that impoverish and endanger thousands of people, including many who are disabled people. 

They name instead several alternative ways to protect people with high energy needs – without impoverishing vast numbers of low income customers. 

With Fuel Poverty Action’s proposal of Energy For All (e4a) each household would be entitled, free, to enough energy to cover basic needs, but people would pay a higher tariff for what they use above that amount. This would offer much needed security to all – including those who need more because of their health, disabilities, housing conditions, or family size. It would be paid for by the higher per-unit tariff on excess use, by windfall taxes and by ending the millions of pounds now poured daily into fossil fuel subsidies. 

Other options listed  include extensions of the Warm Home Discount, social tariffs, better disability benefits, and good safe insulation for vulnerable customers.  And they say that companies that cannot fulfil their purpose of providing the energy people need at a cost they can afford, could – and must – be brought back into public hands.

Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action commented: 

Instead of looking at real, proportionate, workable changes to the current upside down pricing framework, Ofgem has chosen to continue hitting low income users harder than affluent neighbours. The standing charge means that however much they cut down their usage many people will never be able to pay their bills.

Paula Peters of DPAC says:

I’m a low energy user because I am terrified to switch it on and worrying about costs all the time. It’s making me permanently anxious as it is all of us. Last winter I was in a lot of pain with a cold house.  I needed NHS intervention: a steroid injection and a Nebuliser at A & E.

9,000 energy crisis hotspots in England and Wales revealed

The neighbourhoods that are being worst impacted by soaring energy prices have been identified for the first time as part of new research by Friends of the Earth.

The environmental group has found that there are almost 9,000 energy crisis hotspots across England and Wales where communities are at greatest risk of serious financial hardship as a result of unaffordable energy costs.

Birmingham (1st), Bradford (2nd), Cornwall (3rd), Sandwell (4th), County Durham and Enfield (joint 5th) rank highest among 30 local authority areas with the most energy crisis hotspots. Birmingham and Bradford also top a list of areas with the most homes that are missing basic insulation measures.

A full list of energy crisis hotspots by local authority area is available here.

Energy crisis hotspots are neighbourhoods where energy use is high and typical household income is below the national average. In many cases, energy use is high in these neighbourhoods because homes are poorly insulated, meaning they require more energy to remain warm.

The latest analysis has found that these at-risk neighbourhoods are not only home to a higher proportion of children than other areas, but that people of colour are also twice as likely to live in them, highlighting the disparities that exist across local areas.

The average annual energy bill is currently more than 50% higher than it was six months ago. This increase is already devastating millions of households across the country.

Yet costs are expected to climb higher still later this week when the new energy price cap is announced by the regulator Ofgem. The latest forecasts predict that annual energy costs will exceed £3,500 for the average household come October, rising to £4,200 by January. Experts Cornwall Insights predict that prices will remain high throughout 2023 and even beyond.

Compounded by other rising living costs, such as rent – which has increased by an average of 11% this year – food and fuel costs, millions more are at risk of being plunged into financially unstable positions. Recent estimates predict that one in three households will be living in fuel poverty this October unless the government meaningfully intervenes.

Mike Childs, head of science, policy and research at Friends of the Earth, said:

There’s no downplaying how catastrophic this and following winters will be for millions of people if energy bills rise as high as they’re predicted to, unless the government meaningfully intervenes. Instead of woeful and poorly targeted cash handouts, or the promise of tax cuts that won’t help those who need it the most, the government must beef up its package of emergency financial support by channelling money to those least able to pay their energy bills.

And while vital, this is only a short-term solution. The highest priority of all is fixing the UK’s leaky, inefficient housing stock, otherwise cash handouts will be required year on year. By rolling out a free programme of street-by-street energy efficiency measures, prioritising the most in-need neighbourhoods, we can help to bring bills down quickly, make homes warmer and slash Earth-warming emissions at the same time.

A new report by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) on behalf of Friends of the Earth shows how an emergency energy efficiency scheme for England and Wales could be delivered by local authorities over the coming months, starting with the neighbourhoods most in need, to protect people from soaring bills before this winter and beyond.

It reveals that households could make savings of between £490 and £720 each year on their bills through the rapid roll-out of a council-led, street-by-street programme of insulation and other energy saving measures. These estimates were made before the most recent energy price cap forecasts were given, making the potential savings even higher.

That’s why in England, Friends of the Earth is calling on the candidates vying to be the next Prime Minister to commit to a rapid programme of free, council-led street-by-street loft and cavity wall insulation and basic energy efficiency measures.

And in Wales, the group is urging the Welsh government to urgently roll out its Warm Homes Programme, prioritising the most in-need households and neighbourhoods for insulation.

Estimates by Friends of the Earth put total costs for an England and Wales scheme in the region of £15 billion, which is three times lower than what households could save over a ten year period as identified in the NEF report.

Friends of the Earth believes the government could begin to roll out such a scheme out using the money raised through its Windfall Levy, which is expected to raise around £5bn. A much tougher windfall tax, without loopholes that allow fossil fuel firms to pay a much lower rate, could make this funding pot go even further.

The group is also urging the Conservative leadership candidates to guarantee better emergency financial support for those struggling most if elected, which is desperately needed to stop people going cold this winter. And while a vital lifeline, this can only be a temporary fix. The energy crisis will continue to impact lives for years to come unless steps are taken to reduce the amount of energy lost from our heat-leaking homes.

Speculation continues over new measures to tackle fuel poverty

Senior figures in the Conservative Party came under increasing scrutiny this week as consistent media headlines accused them of failing to act.

After last week’s headlines about the Ofgem price cap changes, Cornwall Insight provided the latest estimates on the likely price cap.

This revealed that the average energy bill in October will rise to £3,542 (£3,182 including the Government’s planned household support” and then to £4,266 from January.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition predicts that this will result in 9.2m households being in fuel poverty in October, with the number growing to 10.5m in early 2023.

As the Coalition told CNN:

Only a full programme of emergency financial support, a rapid expansion of energy efficiency programmes and a commitment to bringing more cheap renewable energy on stream will help people stay warm this winter and into the future.

During the week, the leadership contenders felt the pressure as fuel poverty campaigners with Warm This Winter targeted the Darlington hustings to press home the message that more needed to be done.

Rishi Sunak responded with plans for more support for households, but also an expansion in the country’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Meanwhile Liz Truss continued to avoid directly promising support. This lead to her local paper, the Eastern Daily Press to run a large feature highlighting the devastating impact her policies will have on her own constituency.

After accusations that he was presiding over a Zombie Government, the acting Prime Minister also attended a meeting with energy firms. Afterwards, the Treasury admitted to the Guardian that support would not be enough.

As the week drew to a close, figures showing a slight decline in GDP also posed a challenge to leaders, with Jennifer Wallace from Carnegie UK (which proposes a wellbeing approach to measuring a nation‘s success) commenting:

These figures take into account a dramatic increase in the cost of living, in part due to the rising costs of home energy bills.

While this has helped prop up the GDP figures somewhat, it is hugely damaging for the UK’s collective wellbeing due to rising anxiety for people who are worried about being unable to heat their homes this winter.

As an article in the Sunday Times revealed that people will not be able to afford vital care, the Government is also now rumoured to be planning for additional help. However, the Coalition commented:

The toll on the mental health of people struggling to pay their energy bills or plan ahead should not be under-estimated.

We are already seeing disabled people unable to charge their medical equipment because they can’t afford to use electricity.

If the Government is unwilling to help everyone this winter, it should at least support the most vulnerable.

The Lib Dems and Labour revealed some of their suggestions for helping offset the energy bills rise.

Labour has pledged to act on the unfair pre-payment meter tariffs in the first of a proposed series of announcements, while the Lib Dems called for universal support to be extended to cancel out the October price rise.