It seems that official statistics on fuel poverty are two years in arears, as the BBC reports that a million more people fell into fuel poverty in 2006.
The number of households in fuel poverty in the UK rose to 3.5 million in 2006, government figures show.
The figures from the Department for Environment and the Department for Business show this is an increase of one million on 2005 levels.
The report goes on to blame rising energy prices. There was an increase in fuel costs of 22% between 2005 and 2006 and when fuel costs rise but incomes don’t, the fuel poverty stats deteriorate.
Defined as spending more than 10% of your income on heating your home to an acceptable level, the factors affecting fuel poverty are a triangle of data which can all be influenced by government action.
The factors are household income – and many of the poorest get all their income from the government; the amount of energy input needed to heat a home – and the government has some responsibility for helping the poorest insulate their homes better; and the cost of the fuel.
Whilst there are limits to how much the government can do to regulate energy prices, more is needed to ensure the poorest aren’t paying disproportionately more when they could qualify for social tarifs or are stuck using prepayment meters.
The latest figures available for fuel poverty were two years ago. If in 2006, fuel increases of 20% put a million more in fuel poverty, what have this year’s rises done? British Gas customers saw an unprecedented rise of 35% in one go earlier this year.
This is an issue the Lib Dems are taking very seriously – with Nick Clegg raising this issue at PMQs more often than any other.
But are we ready for the the bleak truth that, quite simply, more people will die this winter than ever before?
Excess winter deaths in people aged over 65 have fallen from around 50,000 in 1996/7 to around 20,000 last year. But the outlook for this year looks worse than ever – and some are estimating as many as 200,000 will die – around 300 people in every constituency.
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One Comment
When the relevant govt office investigated fuel prices last time they found that only 20% of the fuel poor were on prepayment meters, and only 20% of those on prepayment meters were fuel poor. Equalising the costs would do little to solve fuel poverty, therefore.
It would be possible to mandate insulation standards on all rental property, and when houses are sold. It is hard to think of a non-prescriptive answer to this problem. In addition, if it is acceptable for govt to specify insulation standards for new houses, why should they not do it for houses being sold “second hand”?
That said, there is a limit to how well you can insulate many older houses – if you don’t have cavity walls, you can’t have cavity wall insulation, for example. It is possible to attach insulation to the inside of walls, but it is very expensive, very disruptive, and not that effective. Fuel poverty, and excess winter deaths will be with us for a long time, I fear.