Rise in single men seeking bill support

A charity says it has seen a “significant increase” in demand from single men seeking advice and support with fuel poverty over the course of the pandemic.

The Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE), which mostly provides support across South West England, said the charity answered 21,604 enquiries from 14,465 households from April 2020 to March 2021, compared to 15,646 enquiries from 10,093 households in the same period in 2019-20 – a 43 per cent increase.

Cumulatively, it added, over the last year it has saved people in fuel poverty more than £2.7 million off their energy bills – an average of around £190 per household.

CSE said of particular significance was the fact more unemployed single men contacted them for support, potentially linked to industries significantly impacted by Covid-19 such as hospitality workers and taxi drivers.

Before the pandemic, support was usually taken up by low-income families, single parents, pensioners and people with health needs.

Ian Preston, head of household energy services at CSE, said: “Being able to keep healthily warm at home is a basic human need. The fact that we’ve increased our support and reached new people is amazing considering the challenges of lockdown.

“Many other public advice agencies operate face to face from drop-in centres and when lockdown hit, they had to close. The CSE advice line became one of only a few options for people in need. Many clients have referred to us as a light in the darkness because we provide someone at the end of the phone who genuinely cares and helps.

“It was particularly significant that more unemployed single men reached out for support, perhaps linked to industries significantly affected by the pandemic like hospitality workers and taxi drivers and potentially linked to the mood during lockdown which was one of mutual support where people who wouldn’t normally seek help felt they could.”

Other trends the charity reported seeing included an increase in people who are suffering from mental health issues and more calls from people who feel suicidal. Additionally CSE received double the amount of referrals from local authorities (1,188) and more word of mouth referrals than ever (1,339).

Preston added: “The increase in our advice line calls confirm what we already know, that people in fuel poverty need more support. CSE supports people with energy saving advice and energy saving home improvements because increasing the energy efficiency of homes not only makes them warmer, improves health, and cuts fuel bills, it helps tackle the climate emergency too.

“The UK has some of the most energy inefficient housing in Europe. If we are to meet both our net zero and fuel poverty targets, then UK government needs to urgently make more funding available for energy advice to support more people insulating their homes.”