Fuel Poverty Archives - Page 2 of 13 - End Fuel Poverty Coalition

Lords back campaigners’ call for changes to hydrogen trials

The House of Lords backed calls from campaigners to prevent energy firms from passing the cost of proposed hydrogen development onto bill payers.

But they failed to back calls to ban energy firms from forcibly entering people’s homes to convert their heating to hydrogen.

Plans are for the creation of “hydrogen village trials” which would force up to 2,000 homes in the trial area to convert their home heating and their appliances to hydrogen. The development of new sources of hydrogen were set to be paid for through a levy on households which was proposed in the Energy Bill.

Clauses also increased the powers of access granted to fossil fuel companies, which could theoretically involve forcibly installing hydrogen boilers without residents’ consent.

On Monday (24 April), the Energy Bill passed its latest stage in the House of Lords and will now move to the House of Commons where the Government can seek to overturn amendments – and MPs can try and introduce new changes.

An End Fuel Poverty Coalition explainer on how hydrogen could impact fuel poverty levels has been produced and can now be read online for people wanting to learn more about this new development: https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/about-fuel-poverty/is-hydrogen-the-solution-to-high-energy-bills/

1.7m households in fuel poverty miss out on Government help

Almost two million households in severe fuel poverty will miss out on government help in 2023/24 according to new figures. [1]

Data produced by researchers at the University of York for Child Poverty Action Group has calculated that among those groups who will miss out are 688,000 fuel poor households with children. [2]

The figures also show that households in London, the North East and the North West are the most likely to miss out on Government help. Over 1m fuel poor owner-occupied households and over 500,000 struggling homes in the private rented sector will be among those who no longer get Government help.

The UK Government introduced new support packages for vulnerable households from 1 April 2023 to replace the Energy Bills Support Scheme and other programmes which ran over winter 2022/23. The new support includes payments of up to £900 for those households on some benefits, with the first instalments due to be paid this week.

Estimates based on Government data have also shown that over four million Energy Bills Support Scheme monthly payments of £66 or £67 from this winter had still to be made to or redeemed by households for the period October 2022 to February 2023. [3]

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

“Millions of people will be worse off in 2023/24 as energy bills remain high, but support from the Government has fallen in real terms.

“Without further Government support and rapid roll out of energy efficiency programmes, the Dickensian conditions experienced by millions this winter will be replicated again. Until Britain’s broken energy system is reformed, we will continue to see households rely on Government support to help them through the energy bills crisis.”

Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, from the University of York’s Social Policy Research Unit, commented:

“This data answers an important question because it is an indication of the limits of using the receipt of social security benefits to mitigate fuel poverty, and suggests who might be the types of household that need to be targeted in other ways, including by some kind of social tariff.”

The main reason behind households being excluded is the link between cost of living payments and mean-tested benefits.

Alison Garnham, CEO of Child Poverty Action Group, said:

“The Government’s one-off cost-of-living payment is welcome, but this data shows it doesn’t go far enough. Flat-rate payments leave families with children, who have higher living costs, short-changed. Increasing child benefit, which lost a quarter of its value in the last decade and goes to lower and middle income households, is the first step to making sure struggling families have enough money to heat their homes.”

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

“The Government’s rehashed policies on energy efficiency fall miles short of the national programme of insulation and home upgrades that is needed to solve the fuel poverty crisis in the longer term. Ministers also continue to deny communities access to onshore wind, which is among the cheapest energy sources around and a resource we have in abundance. Instead Ministers are handing billions in subsidies to oil and gas developments that won’t lower bills or boost UK energy security, as most of it is oil for export.

“It is beyond time that this government delivered real policies that address the big issues affecting people’s lives, not least eye-watering energy bills.”

ENDS

[1] PDF available to download: https://cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/policypost/Who_are_the_fuel_poor_revised.pdf. The figures are, if anything, an underestimate of the problem as the definition of fuel poverty used for these calculations is one of the most targeted available.

[2] 69 per cent of the households missing out are from the bottom three income deciles, 39 per cent are families with children, 59 per cent are living in owned/ mortgaged houses, 66 per cent are income poor.

[3] Calculations and data available from: https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/energy-firms-holding-280m-of-taxpayers-cash-meant-for-customers/. Customers affected should contact their energy firm for advice and information on how to claim these payments.

Council candidates urged to help end fuel poverty

Over half the population in England (54%) say they are unhappy or very unhappy with the level of support for energy bills which is now available. Just 12% say they are happy or very happy with the support on offer. [1]

The research from the Warm This Winter campaign comes as candidates have been confirmed for the local elections taking place across England in May.

Council candidates have been urged to sign up to a pledge to help end fuel poverty as part of their campaigns.

The pledge, created by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, calls on council candidates to improve the energy efficiency of Council and housing association housing stock if elected.

Prospective candidates signing the pledge also commit to backing better enforcement of existing regulations on energy efficiency and property standards in the private rented sector and campaigning to reform Britain’s broken energy system.

The polling suggests that dissatisfaction with energy bills support stretches across the political divide with 43% of Conservative voters living in England, 67% of Labour voters, 57% of Lib Dems, 58% of Brexit / Reform voters and 51% of Greens unhappy with the help on offer. [2]

Councillors and council candidates can find out more about the pledge online at https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/end-fuel-poverty-councillor-pledge/

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

“While many of the solutions to Britain’s broken energy system lie at the door of the Westminster Government, local authorities also have a role to play in beating fuel poverty.

“From providing advice to residents and taking action on housing stock, to using their influence in political parties to call for change, councillors can have a powerful voice in making life better for their constituents.”

At the start of April hundreds of people took action in a mass lobby of politicians to call for change at a national level, with over 80 events taking place at MPs constituency offices across the UK calling on them to sign the Warm This Winter MP pledge.

People affected by the energy bills crisis should initially contact their energy firm or Citizens Advice for help.

ENDS

This news story relates to England only.

[1] 2,196 people interviewed between 20th and 21st March 2023. Results were weighted to be representative of the GB population.

How happy are you about the level of support for energy bills from 1 April 2023?

Very happy: 2%

Happy: 10%

Neither happy nor unhappy: 25%

Unhappy: 26%

Very unhappy: 28%

Don’t know: 8%

[2] Based on self-declared 2019 voting behaviour, England-based respondents only.

Energy bills crisis continues on April Fuels Day

Every household in the country will see their energy bills increase by at least £67 a month from 1 April as the energy bills crisis continues.

Dubbed April Fuels Day by campaigners, who are staging a mass lobby of MPs at over 70 locations across the country on Saturday, the increase in bills is caused by the Energy Bills Support Scheme coming to an end.

Figures from the Warm This Winter campaign have revealed that more than a quarter of people (29%) are already in debt to their energy companies even before the price rise. With Debt Justice calculating that those on prepayment meters have combined debts of £1bn.

An investigation by Bloomberg has uncovered that three energy firms have added half a billion pounds to energy bills by manipulating the electricity market by powering down their generators at peak times, only to then demand a much higher price from the Grid.

Figures from National Energy Action also reveals that standing charges, which customers pay every day to access the grid regardless of use, will hit a new high from 1 April – up 64%. It means that almost half (41%) of what those in the poorest households spend on energy will now go solely on these daily fees.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

“People are being taken for fools. The Government is saying that it is providing support to households, but the reality is that everyone’s bills are going up.

“Even when market conditions return to energy bills later in 2023, people will still be paying double for their energy than they were in 2020.

“Meanwhile, every week we learn about new ways the energy firms are profiting from the misery of households. The latest revelations about energy firms’ excesses show just how broken Britain’s energy system is.

“This week was supposed to be the Government’s big energy security announcement, but instead we got a dump of thousands of pages of policy and data with no real substance.”

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

“The government has finally recognised that Britain’s energy system is broken but, by its own admission, its plans this week won’t do anything to lower our energy bills.

“Its rehashed policies on energy efficiency fall miles short of the national programme of insulation and home upgrades that is needed, and it continues to deny communities access to onshore wind, which is among the cheapest energy sources around and a resource we have in abundance.”

“Instead Ministers are handing billions in subsidies to oil and gas developments that won’t lower bills or boost UK energy security, as most of its oil for export. It’s beyond time that this government delivered real policies that address the big issues affecting people’s lives, not least eye-watering energy bills.”

Energy bills still set to rise despite Budget

Energy bills are calculated to rise by £285 a year for the coming financial year 2023/24 according to ECIU.

This is despite a Government u-turn on the Energy Price Guarantee which was due to increase bills even further from 1 April.

Meanwhile, calculations show that combined household energy debt could exceed £2.7bn by the end of June 2023.

Other inequalities in the energy market remain with customers paying by standard credit (i.e. paying by cash, cheque or bank transfer) will pay £202 a year more than those on direct debit or pre-payment meter.

Meanwhile some regions, such as Merseyside and North Wales will pay 6.7% more for the electricity than others, such as those in the East Midlands.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

“Despite government support and falling wholesale prices, every household will pay more for their energy this coming financial year than they do at the moment. That’s due to how the energy pricing system works and expected reduced levels of support from the Government.

“This is coupled with soaring food prices and transport costs and no end in sight to the cost of living crisis.

“We need further action to provide energy debt relief to get households onto even keel and long term changes to Britain’s broken energy system. This includes tariff reform and rapid improvements to energy efficiency of housing to ensure we never again see an energy bills crisis.”

Tessa Khan from Uplift, which is part of the Warm This Winter campaign, commented:

“If the Chancellor wants to boost growth he needed to tackle the energy crisis for the long term and he hasn’t.

“Energy bills will still rise, albeit by not quite as much, meaning millions of households will continue to live in fuel poverty. From July, the average household is still set to pay double what they were in 2021.

“Crucially, there is no long term plan here to fix the UK’s broken energy system for good: no support from upgrading homes, nothing to accelerate renewables to shift the UK away from volatile fossil fuels as is happening in other countries.

“While the Chancellor might like to think the energy crisis is over, for so many households and businesses unaffordable energy bills are still a painful reality.”

National Energy Action predict that the number of households in fuel poverty will grow to 7.5m as a result of the Budget announcement.

Graham Duxbury, Chief Executive of Groundwork UK, said:

“We are glad to see the government extending support with energy bills for a further three months and taking steps to tackle the injustice of higher costs for people on pre-payment meters.

“However, more needs to be done to ensure everyone is able to access the energy they need to stay warm and well. Even with government support in place, our Green Doctor energy advisors have been shocked by the level of hardship households have experienced this winter.

“To avoid people suffering unnecessarily in the winters to come, we need a radical plan to eliminate fuel poverty, through increasing the energy efficiency of homes, providing better coordinated advice to the most vulnerable energy users, and investing in the skills and jobs we need to transform our energy infrastructure.

“Doing this is vital to preventing the worst effects of climate change, reducing health inequalities and creating more prosperous communities.”

Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) chief executive, Gavin Smart said:

“We’re pleased to see the government taking action to support people with high energy bills, by bringing charges for pre-payment meters in line with direct debit customers and extending the current Energy Price Guarantee at the current rate for a further three months. CIH called for this as part of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition. We would however have liked to have seen more support for energy efficiency measures, helping to tackle some of the root causes of current energy pressures.

“Housing was notable by its absence. We are disappointed that the Chancellor did not use this opportunity to restore local housing allowance to the 30th percentile, as we and others had called for. The decision to leave rates frozen at 2020 levels means the affordability gap for private renters will continue to grow, resulting in increased evictions and homelessness. We would urge government to urgently look again at this, particularly given its commitments on homelessness prevention.

“We note that various changes were announced on welfare. We await the details in this in the forthcoming White Paper and will provide further briefing for members on Budget announcements over the coming days.”

MPs from across parties join call for Government to tackle energy crisis

The British public is calling on the government to support vulnerable people and do more to tackle the energy crisis ahead of tomorrow’s Spring Statement.

New research released today reveals that eight in 10 Britons (81%) think more financial support should be given to vulnerable people to help with their energy bills and a similar proportion (84%) back more support for people to insulate their homes to save energy.

The research commissioned by campaign group Warm This Winter also found that 85% of respondents agreed that developing more homegrown renewable energy would improve the UK’s energy security.

The pledge has already garnered cross party support from MPs including former energy minister The Rt Hon Chris Skidmore (Conservative), Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Net Zero Dr Alan Whitehead (Labour), Wera Hobhouse (Lib Dem Spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change), and former leader of the Green Party Caroline Lucas.

The Warm This Winter research also found that three quarters of Brits back a shift to homegrown renewables in order to help lower UK energy bills.

The Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP said:

Expanding popular, common sense measures like home upgrades and building out clean renewable energy is the best way to permanently bring down bills, protect households long term, and reach net zero.

Dr Alan Whitehead MP said:

Far too many households are still struggling to pay their energy bills and make ends meet. The government must seize every opportunity to tackle the energy crisis long term.

Wera Hobhouse MP said:

Everyone deserves to be able to keep warm during the winter. Tomorrow’s budget needs to reflect a recognition of this by the Chancellor and deliver a real plan to address the future of energy in this country. That future needs to be a green future, where clean energy production insulates us from volatile oil and gas prices and we truly have energy security.

Caroline Lucas MP said:

We’re in a gas-driven energy price crisis, a climate emergency and a cost of living scandal – yet this Government is utterly failing to take action which could help tackle all three, and is leaving people and planet in the lurch. To help keep people warm every winter and secure a liveable future, the Chancellor must commit to properly fund a street-by-street, local authority-led home insulation programme, invest in abundant and affordable renewables, and provide urgent energy bill support for vulnerable households.

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

After a winter of misery which saw over nine million adults living in cold damp homes, it’s time for the government to stop the dithering.

We now need urgent action to protect the most vulnerable and fix Britain’s broken energy system. Even after free market conditions return to our energy bills later this summer, people will still be paying double what they were two years ago.

Due to the energy crisis, the household energy debt mountain has grown to more than £2.5 billion and paying this back while the cost of living crisis continues is unfair. We need the Government and the energy industry to consult with charities to agree on a realistic way of tackling this vital issue.

On 1st April 2023, a mass lobby will see people around the country come together to demand change. To find out more and get involved, visit https://www.warmthiswinter.org.uk/mass-lobby.

ENDS

Online poll of 2000 adults aged 18+ in Great Britain between 22nd and 23rd February 2023. The figures are weighted and representative of the GB population.

Outreach to understand prepayment meter scandal launched

A nationwide call for evidence has been launched to ask energy customers to share their experiences of moving to a prepayment meter (PPM).

People can submit their experiences through an online form which is being hosted on Citizens Advice’s website and is open until Thursday 4 May 2023. A phone line (0800 464 3374) is also available to take evidence and consumers can also submit evidence via charities they may already be in touch with.

The eight-week programme of outreach is part of Ofgem’s market review of prepayment meters and remote switching, to ensure suppliers are meeting their legal obligations in protecting customers.

As part of the wider review, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition has also submitted a response to Ofgem’s consultation on protections needed to help protect energy customers.

In its response, the Coalition re-iterated its call for a legally enforceable ban on the forced transfer of homes onto a PPM (by court order or smart meter transfer) as the only acceptable solution to this abuse of power.

Despite the current voluntary ban being put in place by Ofgem and the Chief Justice, there are still reports of energy firms using the threat of a court order imposed PPM to intimidate households.

Until Parliament can legislate for such a ban, the Coalition argued in its consultation response that Ofgem must ensure that there is no return to forced transfer to PPMs until:

The full PPMs Market Compliance Review has concluded and suppliers have implemented all recommendations.
Revised licence conditions have been implemented (to extend more protections to vulnerable households and extend the definition of vulnerability).
Confidence is regained that suppliers have in place processes to follow the existing and updated rules set by Ofgem.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

It is vital that anyone with experiences of using a prepayment meter responds to Ofgem’s call for evidence.

Only by telling our stories of the abuses that have taken place are the regulators and MPs able to take action to demand compensation from energy firms and reform Britain’s broken energy system.

Next week the House of Commons Business and Justice Select Committees will hear evidence from key players in the prepayment meter scandal including a former magistrate, British Gas contractors and Ofgem.

Brits back renewables as fuel poverty petition handed in

The British public is decisively in favour of a swift transition away from fossil fuels in order to ensure a reliable and affordable supply of energy, according to new research released today.

Over half of adults in Great Britain (54%) believe the country should aim to get off oil and gas as quickly as possible by ramping up efforts to improve energy efficiency and developing significantly more renewable energy. Less than a third (29%) support a more gradual transition away from oil and gas.

Just one in ten respondents to the poll conducted on behalf of the Warm This Winter campaign felt that the UK should aim to continue to meet its energy demand primarily with oil and gas for as long as is necessary. [1]

The news came as the campaign group, which includes over 40 of the UK’s leading charities, delivered a 400,000-strong petition to Number 10 Downing Street. The petition calls on the government to take decisive action now to solve the energy price crisis, which has left seven million UK households in fuel poverty this winter.

The petition, which has attracted celebrity backers including business woman Deborah Meaden, anatomist Professor Alice Roberts and writer Emma Kennedy, has four key demands of the government:

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

Dragons’ Den star and environmental campaigner, Deborah Meaden, is keen to see a restructuring of the UK energy market to allow the country to take advantage of the lower cost of renewable energy. Deborah said:

There is simply no excuse in one of the richest countries in the world for people to be having to make the choice between heating and eating or being forced into public spaces simply to keep warm.

The UK’s reliance on costly fossil fuels has left this country vulnerable to oil and gas price fluctuations – an absolute catastrophe for energy bills in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s time we overhauled the current energy system, decoupled renewable prices from the global gas market and prioritised harnessing our abundant natural resources, including wind, wave and solar power in order to secure energy supply and bring prices down in the long-term.

Jess Stone, 27, from Essex, handed in the petition on behalf of the 400,000 members of the public who signed it. She said:

You try so hard to make everything stretch, but there’s only so much stretching you can do, and once you’ve cut out every single thing that isn’t essential, you’re still left having to cut out essentials.

It’s not just the physical toll, it’s not just the financial toll, it’s the mental toll that is getting harder and harder. Every single day I’m having to decide ‘what will we go without today?’.

I’m having to put my four-year-old to bed every night in a home that is too cold. He has asthma and the cold is bad for his lungs, but I just can’t afford to put the heating on, so we’ll go to sleep in the same bed for warmth, under two duvets, with him sleeping in his dressing gown.

I turn to places like food banks and baby banks for help. I’m grateful for these places, but they shouldn’t have to exist. Today I went to a baby bank to pick up a jumper for my son – he grows so quickly and I can’t afford to keep up, and he needs warm clothes when we can’t afford to heat the house.

I’ve donated his old clothes for other parents, we’re all helping each other out, but you think to yourself, why isn’t the Government doing something to actually solve this?

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition which backed the petition commented:

Across the UK, the message to decision makers is clear: we need reform to our broken energy system and no return to the dirty fossil fuels of the past.

An end to fuel poverty which also meets net zero targets is possible, it just needs the political will to make it happen.

Every so often the Government wakes up to the reality of life in energy crisis Britain and takes action. The latest u-turn is that it now looks set to keep the average energy bill capped at current levels for another three months. But in reality, this will still feel like a 19% increase in bills for people from 1 April as the Energy Bill Support Scheme is coming to an end and new support for vulnerable households is insufficient.

Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift added:

This shows the public is way ahead of the government on how to solve the UK’s energy crisis and lower energy bills permanently. Fix the leaks in our buildings to keep the heat in, crack on with developing cheap renewable energy, and move the UK off unaffordable fossil fuels.

Yet, because of the constant whispering of fossil fuel lobbyists, this government is dithering, while wasting public money subsidising new oil and gas drilling that will make zero difference to our energy security or bills. If it approves the huge Rosebank field, the UK public will effectively be over half a billion pounds poorer because of the subsidies, and the oil will most likely end up abroad.

Unaffordable energy prices are at the root of so many of the problems we are currently experiencing, needlessly. Other countries are successfully bringing down bills by upgrading homes with insulation and heat pumps and by accelerating renewables, so why can’t we? This government just needs to get on with it.

ENDS

[1] When it comes to UK energy security (ensuring access to reliable and affordable sources of energy), which of the following statements is closest to your view?

The UK should aim to get off oil and gas as quickly as possible by ramping up efforts to improve energy efficiency and developing lots more renewable energy – 54%
The UK should aim to continue to meet its energy demand primarily with oil and gas while making some effort to improve energy efficiency and build more renewable energy – 29%
The UK should aim to continue to meet its energy demand primarily with oil and gas for as long as is necessary – 10%
None of the above – 7%

Online poll of 2000 adults aged 18+ in Great Britain between 1st and 2nd February 2023. The figures are weighted and representative of the GB population.

Households unable to pay for essentials as Spring Budget looms

A quarter of households regularly run out of money for essentials, and people believe the UK Government must to more to help households get through the energy bills crisis, new figures released by a group of leading charities and campaigning organisations today shows.

Nationally, 37% of people end the month with no money left over, while nearly a quarter of people (24%) run out of money for essentials either most months or most days. Only 35% of people finish the month with some money to put aside for the future.

Around one in twenty (6%) of people are trying to survive on incomes so low that they can’t pay for essentials most days – a figure that rises to over one in ten (11%) in the UK’s 100 most deprived constituencies.

The new polling highlights the devastating impact of the cost of living crisis across the country, showing how people in both the country’s most deprived areas and its most affluent ones are struggling to get by.

Even among the 10 most affluent constituencies in the UK, 19% of people say they find themselves unable to pay for the likes of food or bills by the end of most months. That rises to 26% of people in the 10 most deprived constituencies.

The figures have been released to mark the launch of a new initiative in response to the cost of living crisis which some of the UK’s biggest charities and organisations have teamed up to create.

Ahead of the Spring Budget the group has launched an open letter backed by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition as well as charities, businesses, Metro Mayors and over 37,800 thousand members of the public. The letter, addressed to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, asks them to take action to ensure the crisis illustrated by these figures does not become the UK’s ‘new normal’.

Members of the public can sign up online: https://act.38degrees.org.uk/act/together-through-this-petition

Two thirds (67%) of people described the UK Government as “not doing enough” to address the cost of living crisis.

Matthew McGregor, CEO at campaign group 38 Degrees, said:

This polling paints a bleak picture of the crisis unfolding across the country: families running out of money to put food on the table and keep kids warm is rapidly becoming our new normal.

As the Spring statement looms, a united message is coming through loud and clear from the British public – in the most and least deprived corners of our country – Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt: do your jobs. Stop kids going hungry, end the energy bills ticking timebomb and relieve the sickening worry from families fearing the worst.

Dan Paskins, Director of UK Impact at Save The Children, said:

Whether you’re in a rich or poor area, the majority of people believe the UK government isn’t doing enough to help people in the cost of living crisis. Families are now existing month to month, even day to day in some cases and going without essentials, making us deeply worried about the impact this has on children.

The poll, conducted by Survation, questioned people in both the 100 most deprived and the 100 least deprived constituencies in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the majority in both groups agreeing that the UK Government’s cost of living action is insufficient.

Energy firms pre-payment response to Minister an insult to victims

Energy firms have only provided “half the picture” to the Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero after the Government asked all suppliers to set out how they are supporting their customers, how many warrants to forcefully enter peoples’ homes they have applied for and how they will make up for any wrongdoing.

Data from the Warm This Winter campaign suggests that as many as two-thirds of pre-payment meter households will contain elderly people, young children or those with a disability or long term health condition.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:

The energy firms are trying to pull the wool over our eyes yet again and have failed to comply with the Government’s reasonable demand for information and details of compensation they will offer wronged consumers. This is an insult to the victims of the pre-payment meters scandal.

The truth is that they have invested time, money and resources in securing almost a million court warrants against households since 2020. Even if only a fraction of those are enforced this is still too many. [1]

Every one of those enforcements involves the energy firm breaking into someone’s home to impose on them a pre-payment meter which is more expensive for that household than direct debit. They will also charge the household for the installation.

Over the last three years, figures suggest that those on pre-payment meters may have paid hundreds of pounds more per household than other customers. [2]

Advice received by the Coalition has highlighted four areas where there might be reason for further compensation. These are in relation to possible breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights (articles 6 and 8), the Equality Act, trespass rules and breaches of contract / licence conditions. [3]

As well as compensation, campaigners have set out a five point plan which the Government must implement to address the pre-payment meter (PPM) scandal:

Move people off legacy PPMs more systematically (using data to identify PPM customers on the priority service register to move to faster smart meter rollout)
Remove the premium paid by PPM and standard credit customers.
Reduce standing charges for PPM customers.
Address debt build up for PPM customers through a debt repayment matching scheme (funded through fines levied on energy firms for poor performance).
Introduce wider reforms to make energy more affordable for PPM customers (such as introduction of a social tariff or free band of energy for all).

Calls for an inquiry into the scandal have also increased.

In the House of Commons on Monday 6 February, Sir Robert Neill MP said that the scandal must indicate:

First, that the process itself is flawed and should not be continued and, secondly, that there must be an inquiry into not just the process itself, but the suitability of some of those who are representing the energy suppliers and Ofgem in court.

Either they gave misleading information by inadvertence or, potentially, they did so deliberately, which, on oath, amounts to perjury. That is a very serious matter which brings the court process into disrepute, and it needs to be investigated too.

ENDS

[1] Official Ministry of Justice data revealed magistrates courts granted 920,855 warrants between Jan 2020 and Dec 2022 in England and Wales. Media reports suggest around 30,000 were granted in January 2023 in England and Wales. Media report 32,000 warrants were granted in Scotland in the first ten months of 2022.

[2] This winter every PPM household overpaid by £258 on average (Citizens Advice). PPM installation cost £150 (Ofgem). Equals basic overpayment of £408.

For households who have been on a PPM before October 2022, this basic level will increase based on how many years they have been on it, but someone who has been on a PPM since 2019, has over paid around £102 compared to a DD meter (winter 2019/20 £38, winter 2020/21 £28, winter 2021/22 £32). Total of £600

2019 is the starting point because that’s when Ofgem changed the rules to make PPMs much more expensive.

[3] Indicative advice received from Leigh Day Solicitors is not a formal legal opinion, but provided to help the Coalition discuss next steps in the campaign to help victims.