Welfare

Submission: the Energy and Climate Change Committee publish report on ‘fuel poverty’

Cara Brown
Cara Brown

This memorandum to the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee on fuel poverty focuses on the definition of households in fuel poverty commonly used: we make the case that more attention needs to be given to low earners with respect to fuel poverty.

Key findings

  • Low earners are too rich to qualify for any state assistance with energy costs yet often too poor to comfortably meet rising fuel costs or make their homes energy efficient
  • Low earners independence from benefits also means they are largely unable to obtain grants such as Warmfront for improving the energy efficiency of their homes
  • The significant numbers of low earners living in private rental properties means they are likely to live in energy inefficient properties, thus increasing their potential fuel costs
  • Essential items such as housing, fuel and power and food & non-alcoholic drinks, on which households are likely to have little room for manoeuvre, accounts for around 41% of low earner disposable household income on average, compared with 27% among high earner households.
  • In 2009, low earner households spent on average 100 per cent of their weekly disposable income leaving little room for rising fuel bills
  • Increases in the global price of oil pushed domestic fuel costs to a peak in the latter part of 2008. Typical domestic gas bills for 2008–09 were around 10 per cent up on the previous year in real terms and typical electricity bills increased by around 22 per cent over the same period. Although fuel prices fell slightly during 2009, they remain high by historical standards

Further reading

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Cara Brown
Cara Brown Former External Affairs Manager