Fuel poverty funding faces “significant shortfalls”, says Committee

There are “significant shortfalls” in the funding to tackle fuel poverty in the UK, the Committee on Fuel Poverty has warned.

The Committee has also urged the government to take “urgent action” to improve the energy efficiency of homes.

The first report from the Committee revealed its estimates for the cost of meeting the government’s 2030 target to ensure as many households as reasonably practical achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of band C.

The Committee said it will cost £1.9 billion to achieve the first milestone in 2020 which aims to get as many homes to a band E rating, a further £5.6 billion to get homes to band D by 2025 and an additional £12.3 billion for the final 2030 target.

The report also encouraged the government to offer more funding to help those without energy efficiency measures to pay their bills. It estimated that it would cost fuel poor households an additional £371 per year to heat and power their homes to a reasonable standard.

The Committee on Fuel Poverty outlined six “priority outcomes” to tackling fuel poverty including, exploring the potential of private finance to help fund energy saving measures and meet milestones quicker, extending supplier obligations to health agencies, charities and local authorities and and better informing households about advice and assistance available to them.

Concerns that the 2020 target will be missed unless appropriate data sharing legislation is introduced within the expected timeframe are also expressed in the report, as “even if done on time, work to meet the target will be very backloaded into 2018/19”.

Other recommendations in the report are an obligation on private landlords to ensure properties are energy efficient, government to make plans to improve the targeting of funds for energy efficiency schemes which should be announced by the March 2017 budget statement and plans for a smooth transition between the 2020 and 2025 milestones.

“We recommend that Ofgem report to BEIS [The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy] on the impacts and contribution the Competition and Markets Authority remedies will have on fuel poverty,” the report added.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a report in June 2014 following a two year probe into the industry with a raft of measures to improve competition in the market. Its recommendations included a transitional price cap remedy for prepayment meter customers who are often also fuel poor and other measures to decrease the detriment of. Sing on a prepayment meter.

The Committee on Fuel Poverty report comes as the industry prepares for the current Energy Company Obligation (Eco) to enter a transitional year in March 2017. The government is expected to announce details of the next energy efficiency scheme next year.