The lowering of oil prices due to the ­economic downturn has provided a little respite from the spiralling cost of ­domestic heating. Eighteen months ago, ­considerable pain was being inflicted on rural households not on the mains gas network using ­kerosene and LPG for their heating.

There are 1.7 million homes off mains gas, and not all are wealthy members of the "Aga class". For the fuel poor in rural areas, high oil prices are a particular problem and an incident such as a thief siphoning off a winter's supply of heating oil could mean a devastating loss of up to £1,200.

However, the plight of the rural fuel poor, often overlooked, is asserting itself in the news and the conscience of government.

So where do things stand now as the cost of crude oil begins to climb again? Frankly, the only player in town is the Carbon Emission Reduction Target (Cert) programme, which thankfully has been extended with an enhancement to 2012.

The Warm Front Scheme, with the best will in the world, offers little to the rural fuel poor, who often live in houses without lofts or cavity walls to insulate.

But the problem with delivering Cert in rural areas is the dispersed nature of the fuel-poor households. One in five rural households spends 10 per cent or more of their income on heating: the government's definition of fuel poverty. But it is rare, even in a market town, for a cluster to be large enough to attract any interest from a Cert-obligated company.

Glazing solutions may not give the highest energy-saving ratings, but if they are all that can be done, they are better than nothing - 10 per cent off a fuel bill that can be ill-afforded will not be sniffed at by its recipients.

The trouble is that it is cheaper to fulfil an obligation in the middle of Birmingham, say, than chase around the countryside doing a house here and a house there, even with guidance from the local authority. Older properties are awkward to deal with, windows are rarely uniform and they come under close planning and conservation scrutiny. It is not just carport extensions that are rejected. Some conservationists recoil in horror at the altering of the refractive index by modern glazing. The "reflective qualities" of the windows are quintessential to listed properties, they say. But what consolation is there if to stay warm you have to keep your curtains closed ­permanently during the winter months?

At the moment, energy-saving light bulbs and kettles have made their way to the farthest reaches of the rural fuel poor, but more needs to be delivered.

But is there an alternative? The Heat and Energy Savings Scheme is still in the melting pot of ideas and will not deliver until 2013. The next new initiative on the horizon for the country is the Renewable Heat Incentive Levy, commencing in 2011 and to be administered by Ofgem. The "incentive" is to switch to renewable energy to avoid paying a new carbon tax on fossil fuel supply. Might this be the first step towards all energy fuels being regulated by Ofgem? You will hear three cheers from ­off-network households if it is.

The proposal is laudable but it needs to be more than just worthy, it has to be practical and profitable to be implemented and of benefit to the community. Feed-in tariffs will need to be raised and, if possible, local solutions found. It would be quite galling if the levy paid by off-network rural households funded biomethane production that was fed into a network that they were not connected to.

Here, the Aga classes can help their neighbours in spearheading the necessary development work with local councils in setting up community projects that will help all rural residents equally. I can see opportunities ahead, such as bottled biogas as opposed to LPG and small-scale wind energy.

It is, or could be, good news for rural communities, but I do wonder about the impact on our renewable resources, particularly biomass. With the green light for the biomass burning power plant at Tilbury, I can see a major demand for renewable raw materials. This may pit rural communities against industry and public bodies that have targets and quotas to fulfil; money will win and the government's vision of community generation may not be fulfilled.

Peter Vines, Commission for Rural Communities

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