Fuel poverty kills. It is time to invest heavily in energy efficiency

As we begin a winter that scientists predict will be one of the coldest and dampest for a generation, we are facing an energy bill crisis.

With wages frozen, five of the big six energy companies have recently announced that they are raising their prices by between 5 and 11 per cent, leaving our most vulnerable households – those with children, older residents or those in receipt of state benefits – struggling to adequately heat their homes. We all have to heat our homes and buy gas and electricity from somebody, but with the most vulnerable in society paying the most for energy, something really must change.

In the UK, cold and poorly lit homes already pose a serious health risk to people of all ages. With nearly 8,000 people dying each year, we have one of the highest levels of excess winter mortality in Europe – higher than much colder nations than our own, including Poland and Sweden. Shockingly, more than four times the number of people die in the UK because of poorly heated and insulated homes than because of reckless drivers on our roads.

In addition, it is estimated that illnesses caused by cold homes cost the NHS nearly £1 billion each year. This is a disgrace. In 2013, the National Right to Fuel Campaign (NRFC) will be working to produce verifiable evidence, as part of our response to the consultation by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence into excess winter deaths and illnesses, that will show how the quality of life in the UK could be significantly improved through improvements to the energy efficiency of homes.

At the NRFC we are actively promoting solutions to this energy crisis, encouraging government to help consumers to be able to use energy more efficiently.

Our 2011 report Will Smart Meters Help the Fuel Poor? investigated the rollout of smart meters in tackling fuel poverty, and we found that it can deliver real benefits to all households if it is done in a way that makes people confident in engaging with the technology. However, the report also highlighted consumer demand for more insulation, easier fuel switching and other affordable heat measures over the installation of smart meters.

As a result, we are urging the government to follow the advice of its own advisers and invest significant sums of public money into reviving private sector interest in energy efficiency programmes. We are campaigning hard for HM Treasury to reinvest carbon taxation income into green energy efficiency schemes, helping us all to make our homes super energy efficient and cheaper to run.

Recycling the money that we get from carbon taxes would put in place a fair and permanent solution to the problems of fuel poverty. It would mean nine out of ten homes in the UK that currently live in fuel poverty could afford to live in a warm home and cut carbon emissions, and could also create up to 200,000 jobs.

As chairman of the NRFC, I am proud of the campaign that we have fought for the past four decades to bring fuel justice to all of our communities. The NRFC is an alliance made up of charities, local authorities,

trade unions, community groups, politicians and energy services companies. On their behalf, I am urging people to join our Getting Smart on Energy campaign and sign the Energy Bill Revolution petition for warm homes and lower bills as we campaign together to end the scourge of

fuel poverty.

Hugh Goulbourne, chairman, National Right to Fuel Campaign

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 9th November 2012.

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