Fuel poverty growing worse
I am now a member of the Board of the New National Consumer Council which, in October, will take over Energywatch, Postwatch and the current National Consumer Council. So I’m really concerned by the recent rises in UK fuel prices to consumers.
Fuel poverty is defined as occurring when a household spends more than a 10th of its net income on electricity and gas. When the present Labour Government came to power, the then Chancellor Gordon Brown made the issue a priority and subsequently committed itself to the legally binding target of eradicating fuel poverty among vulnerable households in England by 2010 and across the UK entirely by 2018.
Yet there are now an estimated 4.5 million households in Britain who suffer from fuel poverty – the highest since Labour came to power. As explained in this piece, Friends of the Earth has told the Government to come up with a plan to tackle fuel poverty or face a judicial review.
February 25th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Without Stay-warm we would be in the 10%.
Total fuel (gas and electricity) £1248 per annum
With other suppliers over £1700.
Total income – just under £12,000.
By 2010 age 72 and by 2018 age 80.
Bet I will be off the face of this earth before the matter is addressed. Judicial Review or no judicial review.
Mind if we downsized it would be a different story.
But we love it and even more so, since I became 90% housebound.