Fired up: government to reenergise its plans to end fuel poverty

The fuel poverty minister is due to be quizzed by MPs next week, but what are stakeholders hoping he will say? Roger Milne asked them.

On 10 March, fuel poverty minister David Kidney is due to appear in front of the all-party Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee. The MPs are investigating fuel poverty, and the minister will be explaining how the administration plans to re-energise its efforts to deliver on its promise of ending the problem by 2016.
We asked five organisations and one politician to reveal what they would like to hear from the minister.

Carey Oppenheim, co-director of think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

"While the government has recently introduced new measures to help combat fuel poverty - such as increasing winter fuel and cold weather payments and the proposals set out in the Energy Bill to introduce a mandatory social price support measure for energy companies - these interventions will not be sufficient to halt the trend of growing levels of fuel poverty.

"The scale of the challenge, coupled with the urgent need to tackle climate change, means that it is no longer sufficient to continue tweaking the existing fuel poverty strategy. What is needed is a radical rethink of how to address the problem.
"In a forthcoming report, IPPR will recommend that the government commission an independent, wide-ranging review of the UK's fuel poverty strategy. This should include finding ways to ensure energy-efficiency measures are given greater priority, investigating whether the current definition of fuel poverty is appropriate and considering whether a target-based approach is effective.

"The government also needs to think about how to ensure that the costs of fuel poverty programmes are met in a fair way, look at the scope for working with new partners, such as local authorities or energy distributors, and explore the role of new technologies such as smart meters and microgeneration in tackling fuel poverty."

Charles Hendry MP, shadow energy minister

"We need a step change in our attitude to fuel poverty. We cannot rely solely upon energy prices, particularly as they seem to be heading only upwards. That is why the Conservatives have proposed a £6,500 grant for all households to introduce energy-efficiency measures, which will save an average £30 a month on energy bills. This would be paid back over 20 years through the household's energy bill.

"We've also said that energy companies should provide information on bills explaining what tariff the customer is on, what the lowest available tariff is with that company, and how to switch tariffs. Information with average energy bills for similar houses in the same area will also be available so customers are able to compare energy usage.

"Too many households are unable to access the lowest tariffs simply because they do not have a bank account and so we have proposed to reform the Post Office Card Account to allow people to make direct debit payments, cutting the energy bills of four million people by up to £100 a year.

"Many people are also concerned that they are not getting a fair deal on their energy bills. To answer this question once and for all, a Conservative government will refer the energy industry to the Competition Commission to investigate the relationship between wholesale costs and domestic energy prices. It is something Ed Miliband promised to do last winter but has so far failed to honour."

Derek Lickorish, chair of the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG)

"The UK is entering a transformational energy context, but as we move to a low-carbon economy, FPAG remains deeply concerned that the costs and the implications for fuel poor households have yet to be sufficiently explored. With every 1 per cent increase in prices, another 40,000 households are added to the number of homes in fuel poverty (Consumer Focus 2009). Furthermore, there is a risk that low income households will be paying for climate change policies but that many of the benefits, such as from the clean energy cashback schemes, will be enjoyed mainly by better off households.

"FPAG's key recommendations to government for making rapid progress in the short term:
* Prepare a road map to set out precisely what will be delivered to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016 and the funding detail;
* Understand affordability to anticipate the number of fuel poor households and their issues;
* Ensure benefits are claimed and increased in line with real energy costs;
* Formulate a Decent Homes standard plus specify a standard to ensure affordable warmth;
* Include a mandate for an SAP or EPC [efficiency] standard for all housing stock, including the fuel poor, to be achieved by a specific date targeting the fuel poor first;
* Ensure that low income households receive at least an equal share of the benefits of the feed-in tariff and Renewable Heat Incentive "clean energy cashback" schemes and that the future Cert scheme is refocused to help remove households from fuel poverty;
* Address the prepayment tariff differential through price controls;
* Ensure all the consumer implications of a smart meter future are understood, plus the benefits the fuel poor can derive through engagement and having equal opportunity;
* Develop a Post Office Card Account-type service to give those without bank accounts access to direct debit energy deals."

Maria Wardrobe, communications executive with fuel poverty campaign group NEA

"The government has, directly or indirectly, made significant resources available for domestic energy-efficiency programmes, including those targeted at fuel poverty. However, NEA does not believe the structure of current programmes represents optimal use of these resources.

"NEA advocates the creation of a single national energy-efficiency programme, combining resources from existing programmes and delivered through a coherent area-based mechanism. The scheme would deliver assistance on the basis of need, with priority intervention in the most disadvantaged communities.

"NEA fully endorses the government's proposals in the Energy Bill to legislate for statutory support for vulnerable households. However, we would like to see eligibility extended to those households who are both economically disadvantaged and particularly vulnerable, such as families with young children and those families affected by disability.

"NEA would like to see entitlement to the winter fuel payments extended to those households currently eligible for the cold weather payment in recognition of their extreme economic disadvantage and additional ­vulnerability.
"Some areas of disadvantage experienced by households without access to mains gas were addressed in an Ofgem probe, but problems remain. The priority is to develop realistic and economic solutions to the difficulties faced by households in hard to heat properties."

Eaga, the green services company that runs the government's Warm Front programme.

"Eaga believes the government should clearly restate its commitment to achieving its statutory fuel poverty targets, and that the focus should remain on improving the energy efficiency of low income households.

"As well as concentrating on the easier-to-treat properties, it will be important for the government to focus on the range of new and alternative technologies available, including solar energy and solid wall insulation.

"The leadership role on fuel poverty should continue to rest with government, and investment from centrally funded sources of assistance will remain important. It will also be important to consider the role that income maximisation and debt advice play when packaged together with physical measures to improve energy efficiency. Taking an end-to-end approach to reduce outgoings and increase income can have a huge impact.

"Due consideration should also be given to the importance of behavioural change, and of using new technologies such as smart meters, not to encourage fuel poor homes to use less, but to interact with their energy use in a way that ensures they use what they need to use in the most efficient way. Taken in partnership with the physical measures, the behavioural changes will deliver best value return on the capital investment."

Garry Felgate, chief executive of the Energy Retail Association

"Fuel poverty is first and foremost an issue about income levels and the quality of our housing stock. We have to recognise, however, that energy prices are a contributing factor.

"This is why energy companies continue to invest significant sums (£157 million in voluntary spend last year) in tackling fuel poverty and are working with government to ensure that this increasing support is spent efficiently. Recent years have seen an increase in suppliers' efforts to better target the help available to those customers who are most severely fuel poor.

"Data sharing between the government and energy suppliers is one of the ways of identifying groups of households more likely to be fuel poor and entitled to help. The Energy Retail Association is involved in a pilot scheme, which will help inform a mandatory scheme planned from 2011.

"The current Energy Bill, if enacted, will mandate 'social price support' to selected groups. Energy companies are concerned that any scheme adopted must be simple for customers to understand, well focused and equitable. Previously, the industry has been critical of winter fuel payments as excluding other potentially vulnerable groups such as the house-bound disabled, long-term sick and those on low incomes with families to ­support.

"Energy companies are also looking to government to reform existing energy-efficiency schemes such as the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (Cert), designed to reduce carbon emissions as well as alleviate fuel poverty.

"The industry has always believed it would be more beneficial if there were two separate programmes. This would mean the schemes could be properly targeted and managed, with far greater success attained in both important areas."

Felgate: data sharing vital for identifying those entitled to help

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