Government to help poorest households tackle rising fuel bills » Housing » 24dash.com

A raft of new Government measures to help vulnerable consumers and especially the elderly make their homes warmer and more energy efficient are announced today.

Measures that are designed to help with bills and ensure consumers are on the best value tariff include:

• Seek changes in the law to allow data-sharing with energy suppliers.
• A pilot scheme to ensure people applying for Warm Front grants are referred to their energy supplier for tariff advice so that they can make maximum savings. The pilot will be trialled by 3,000 households.
• £150,000 to fund a roll out of Ofgem's national Citizens Advice Bureau awareness campaign on social assistance for the vulnerable.

Measures to help improve energy efficiency in the long term which can cut bills include:

• £3 million as part of a pilot project within the low carbon buildings programme (LCBP) to introduce fuel saving microgeneration to fuel poor communities.
• The publication of the results of the heat call for evidence. The call for evidence will help the Government develop a heat strategy and measures to reduce demand for heat. This will help reduce heating bills in fuel poor communities. There will be a formal consultation on the Heat Strategy in Autumn.

The initiatives come after Ofgem's fuel poverty summit last month where attendees called for better energy efficiency in homes and advances in data sharing.

The Government measures aim to assist poorer consumers to cut bills for the long term by improving energy efficiency and helping those who need the help most to be easily identified.

Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said: "We've got a commitment from the energy companies now to provide an extra £225 million in social assistance by increasing their investment to £150 million per year by 2011.

"Now we're working on finding ways to get them the right information to enable them to get that money to those who need it the most. That's what's most important right now - making sure the most vulnerable, the elderly, the disabled and young families aren't cold in their own homes because they can't pay their bills."

"In the light of rising energy prices and the increasing global demand for energy we have to think long term and carefully and provide sustainable solutions to those most likely to need help.

"As well as measures to improve the incomes of the vulnerable, a key part of this must be energy efficiency which will help bring people's bills down in the future and keep their homes warm. It means using schemes such as the LCBP to ensure the fuel poor can benefit from the lower bills that modern technology can bring."

Environment Minister Phil Woolas said: "Household bills are rising and purse strings are tightening. Encouraging energy efficiency is crucial because it really does cut costs - especially for those who can least afford energy price hikes."

"These new measures will make homes across the country more energy efficient and give people at risk of fuel poverty a boost where they need it most.

"Fuel poverty isn't just a winter issue - it's about working all year round to improve the homes of some of the most vulnerable people in this country, and that's something the Government is determined to do."

Minister for Pensions Reform Mike O'Brien said: "I am today making it clear that we are willing to seek changes in the law to allow data-sharing with energy suppliers. But they must promise to use that data securely.

"Our shared goal is to reduce the bills of vulnerable pensioners. This is how we can work together to keep tackling pensioner poverty.

"Grants for home heating and insulation are already available to older people receiving Pension Credit. But we want to do more to ensure that the oldest and most vulnerable in society are receiving all the help available to them.

"Today's announcement is an important step towards that goal."

Campaigners, however, said the measures did not go far enough.

Kate Jopling, head of public affairs at Help the Aged, described them as "a sticking plaster to hold back a catastrophe".

She said: "While it is welcome news that the Government is moving in the right direction on fuel poverty, this initiative does not go nearly far enough to deal with the looming fuel poverty crisis."

Ed Matthew, warm homes campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "The new fuel poverty measures announced today won't fix the problem - people will still be left out in the cold.

"The only way to warm up our four million fuel-poor homes is to super-insulate them and help them produce their own energy.

"The Government must stop reshuffling the same tired old ideas and instead jump-start a widespread and strategic programme of energy efficiency and renewable energy."

The two campaign groups are pursuing a judicial review of the Government's fuel poverty policies.